With punk strumming, and a dancing drum machine, Gemma Rogers’ The Great Escape, ponders the possibility of fucking it all off and Ferris Bueller-like generating some memories that “We can live forever in.” In a soft, sorta cockney accent delivering simple but smart lyrics. Cute but clever rhymes. I`m an old git, but listening I was thinking of Girls At Our Best. Getting Nowhere Fast. Ship Of Fools is slightly spikier. Slyly political. Pointed, sarcastic. I’m sure no one needs me to explain the metaphor. Tailspin is concerned with being caught, trapped, in confusion, and searching for someone with whom to, together, weather the storm. Even if only for a night. A live take locks into a cathartic head-banging thrash, while EAMES’ dance-floor friendly version strips the track back and fixes it to a flickering electronic rhythm. All sparse echoed percussion and glam arpeggios a-go-go. Now it had me reaching for my John Grant records. The 4 / 4 making space for, it not a solo, then a very fine guitar riff, and the key line being “Let our hair down and forget about the news.” Our hero / heroine for a mad moment seeking the comfort of strangers in these stranger days.
Gemma Rogers` The Great Escape is out now, on Tiny Global Productions.
