Album Review: Carol Hodge - "Vertiginous Drops"

 

Well, she kept THAT quiet from us! Carol Hodge has always been a prolific songwriter with this being her third album in two and a half years but Vertiginous Drops landed on our review desk with very little preamble. With a stellar guest list including Chris Catalyst and Ginger Wildheart joining in, this is certainly a nice pre-Christmas surprise for sure.

The opening two tracks, Best Will In The World and The Price are uplifting slices of power-pop to get Vertiginous Drops off to a good start before the heartfelt piano-led torch song of Grayson (Things Always Could Be Worse) is a real standout moment with Hodge's voice and the sweeping instrumentation combining to make something genuinely special. The icy electronica of Never Run Out Of Things To Worry About is a marked contrast afterwards with its strident chorus and lyrical self-doubt making it another standout number.

Clean The Slate, featuring Chris Catalyst on guitar with some suitably earthshaking work, crashes through like a thunderstorm. Side two (well, if albums still had sides but y'know what I mean) starts with the epic six minute Giving It Up Now before the stark and angry Oh Amanda starts off as a bitter piano ballad before building into a sheer exorcism of vitriol. Bitch, Don't Break My Serenity is similarly angry but oddly uplifting at the same time, a middle finger of defiance to the haters and maybe the strongest track on here. Wrong Side Of The Glass is a real gut-wrencher, an ode to past lives left behind before before the ghostly piano ballad (with suitably eerie theremin) Silhouettes finishes things off.

Carol Hodge has served up another impressive album with Vertiginous Drops. Similar to Penfriend or The Anchoress, this is a heartfelt album which runs the full gamut of emotions from anger through disappointment and sadness to euphoria but does so with some genuinely great tunes and musicianship to make it well worth a listen. Very much recommended.

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)

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