Laura-Mary Carter – Town Called Nothing
Town Called Nothing is a slick, assured solo mini-album from one half of Blood Red Shoes
For long-standing followers of Laura-Mary Carter’s work, there shouldn’t be anything too surprising about the direction she’s taken with this first proper solo release (too long to be an EP, too short to be an album). We already know that hooks and melody have always been at the heart of her band, Blood Red Shoes; they are disciples of Nirvana, in that they’ve spent the past 15 years perfecting the art of cloaking smartly-constructed pop songs in riffs, reverb and sheer volume.
The slow-burning atmospherics of the band’s softer moments – from When We Wake to Beverly via Slip Into Blue and Stranger – have already shown us that Carter is a multi-faceted songwriter (as, for that matter, has the power-pop of another of her offshoots, Shit Girlfriend). Yet the six tracks of Town Called Nothing still feel disarming; the countrified breeze of the title track, the woozy almost-folk of opener Blue’s Not My Colour, the softly epic reflection of Better On My Own. Only closer Ceremony really nudges towards Carter’s grungy rock bread-and-butter; on every other track, she’s taken ambitious stylistic risks, and they pay off handsomely. This is a hugely accomplished solo debut.
Listen to: Blue's Not My Colour, Better On My Own