Hollie Cook was in the final line-up of post-punk groundbreakers The Slits. When singer Ari Up died in 2010 and the group ended, there was a flurry of interest in Cook for a while. She supported The Stone Roses and appeared on Jools Holland’s Later.
Then the spotlight moved on, as it always does, but she continued and has become a well-liked festival performer, also turning out a series of reggae-stewed pop albums, of which this is the fifth (leaving aside dub reversions). It’s as genially approachable as its predecessors.
There's always been a strong Lovers Rock flavour to Cook’s music, and never more so than on Shy Girl. She has an airy, light, gently sensual voice that’s well suited to such material. Numbers such as “Take Me in Your Arms” are straightforward, sweet-natured love songs, full of friendly feeling, but there are also cuts, such as “In the Pictures” and “Hello Operator”, where relationships clearly haven’t gone so well. In both cases, though, the music remains lilting, laidback and sunny.
Most memorable are songs that punch outwards slightly, where the skank is sturdier and the guitar play more forceful. These inhabit territory somewhere between the albums trombonist Rico Rodriguez made for 2-Tone Records and the occasions when Amy Winehouse flirted with ska and reggae. They include the meaty roll of “Frontline” and the brassy “Ooh Baby”, while “Night Night” is further amplified by the MCing of drumming mic man and reggae perennial Horseman.
Shy Girl, co-written and co-produced by Cook and drummer Ben McKone, is not an album that leaps out and grabs the listener. In essence, it’s easy listening, cuddly rather than feisty, but it’s also likeable and warm. As autumn sets in, while Cook’s latest doesn't make its presence forcefully felt, it emits a welcome glow.
Below: listen to "Frontline" by Hollie Cook
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