The Arts & Culture Journal

You can’t leave your house these days without tripping over at least a few new female solo-artists trying to make there way in the world. From La Roux to Bat For Lashes, there is a glut of new talent to choose from (sadly, however, for every Ladyhawke there’s about half a dozen Pixie Lotts).
    
Compared to these artists however Jude Cowan is down right refreshing. Forgoing the trends for 80’s synth and Kate Bush imitating, Miss Cowan instead treats us to a slab of English gothic with her debut album ‘To America’.

Imagine if Nick Cave and P.J. Harvey hadn’t split and had had a daughter, or if Sioxsie Sue had a folkie little sister and you’ll get a vague idea of what she’s all about. Creating a dense and evocative world that seems to balance both the urban and rural perfectly. It brings to mind one of the creepier episodes of The Mighty Boosh, at times, both whimsical and disturbing.

Her vocals are warm and throaty, caressing like a diabolical torch singer and her band have clearly sold their souls at the crossroads for the skills to lay down a sinister, yet melodic, beat.

All of Cowan’s work is shot through with a slightly twisted sense of humour, she wryly observes the bleak realities of life and love and then turns them into catchy slices of alt-folk, almost as if one of the whores from the Rue Morgue had given up the game and picked up a guitar.