Lou Hickey - Does it Get Easier EP

Does it Get Easier? swoons in the best melodramatic fashion; New Shoes is light jazz strolling into the dark night, as a throwaway comment shades into bitter frustration. Hickey's vocal phrasing is eloquent, matched by melancholic cello and flashy drums. There is nostalgia in her songs, dragging the chanson into the harsh modern age of betrayals. The songs themselves are slight, but supported by gorgeous orchestration - the trumpet on Sympathy echoes her voice with class and sophistication: a creditable set from an emerging artist. [Margaret Kirk]