Carla J. Easton – I Think That I Might Love You
Girl-group expertise and newly-minted guitar skills define this superb fifth record from Glasgow singer-songwriter Carla J. Easton
Two years ago, Carla J. Easton co-directed and narrated Since Yesterday, a documentary examining 60 years of all-girl bands in Scotland. You can tell, too; her latest album plays like a paean to the effervescent pop of the likes of Strawberry Switchblade, His Latest Flame and The Twinsets. There are more contemporary influences, too, with Alvvays – Easton’s one-time shipmates on Belle & Sebastian’s Boaty Weekender – hanging particularly heavy over this sparkling set of guitar-pop songs, which are made all the more impressive when you consider that Easton learned to play the guitar specifically for this record.
There is real depth and variety on I Think That I Might Love You, which runs the gamut from the glam-pop stomp of Let’s Make Plans for the Weekend to the breezy jangle-pop of Never Really Wanted to Stay and Lift Your Head Up Kid. A host of co-writers, including with Stevie Jackson of Belle & Sebastian and Hen Hoose collaborators like MALKA, help her to spread her stylistic wings; the standout moment might be the gorgeous closing one-two of Moth To A Flame and If You Found A Thread, both of which are tinged with Americana.
Longtime listeners, meanwhile – this is Easton’s fifth solo record – can be reassured that she returns to her synthpop roots on Really, Really, Really, Really Sad. This is an ambitious venture into new territory for Easton, and might be the best Scottish pop record of the year already.
Listen to: Let’s Make Plans For The Weekend, Moth To A Flame, If You Found A Thread