The moment you reach “I Call This Home”, the third track of Saint Saviour's debut album, it’s obvious this is an album to stick with. A pulsing rhythm beds guitars that reverberate like vintage Cure. The voice is quavering, anguished. Then it opens up. Suddenly driving and tense, the dramatic, shimmering song sounds like an anthem in waiting – albeit one with a maverick sensibility akin to that of Fever Ray, Goldfrapp and Marc Almond. It fits that Saint Saviour has played live with Hurts.
Saint Saviour is Becky Jones. Formerly with the electropop outfit The RGBs, she then sang with and fronted dance-electro band Groove Armada. As Saint Saviour, she instantly attracted attention when “This Ain’t No Hymn” was picked up for the soundtrack of the film Miss Bala. Instead of then pursuing the traditional route of signing with a label, she sought the funding to make Union through the website PledgeMusic, also used by the Ben Folds Five amongst others. Freed from outside influences or control, Jones has made the album she wants to make. It's hers and her's alone, making her the direct antithesis to the subject of yesterday's Disc of the Day, Cheryl Cole.
A couple of moments are a little too close to Radiohead, but overall it’s an assured album. Where Lana Del Rey couldn’t convince that she was anything but a construct, Jones doesn’t need the cloak of artifice. This mature debut is all the evidence she needs to make you into a fan.
Watch the video for "This Ain’t no Hymn"
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