British-Canadian singer-songwriter Fiona Bevan has entered a genre dominated
by fading success and post-album recognition. It's difficult to make it big in
folk (argued through the recent revival,) you need the support, the zeitgeist,
and a lack of social media reliance to contemplate standing out as a
singer-songwriter with a runner on folk's first base. But Bevan, like her
Canadian musical influence Joni Mitchell, has a distinctive characteristic and personality to take her far beyond the Memphis wannabees. Even more
impressive is Bevan's track history, which sees a number one writing credit
with the collaborative "Little Things" along with Ed Sheeran released
by One Direction. Various EPs and guest collaborations have been leading up to
Bevan's debut album, befittingly titled Talk to Strangers - an opposing
thought process for musicians contrary to your Mother's instructions.
On opening track "Rebel Without a Cause", Bevan picks up on the
London Riots of 2011 from her point of view experiencing the fear and rage in
her London suburb. It's a lovely start to her debut album, taking a love theme
connecting the James Dean starred film of the same name, with a relationship
fitting to the themes of the aforementioned film and riots which parallel the
pointless rebellious attitude. It's an introduction to Bevan's intelligent
song-writing sitting on top of a well-produced neat instrumental created by
Bevan and patch work by Shawn Lee. Impressive work by the producer who's recorded
popular albums as well as the obscure in his rich musical past. Bevan's full of
joy and energy, she changes between acoustic guitar and ukulele freely, as
heard with the second track "Slo Mo Tiger Glo", a song I previously
heard on the ousting of independent musicians YouTube channel, On T' Sofa. Bevan
is in her element here, twee instrumental, a powerful refrain of: "Don't
want this to be over," matched with the reverberated follower: "Please,
time go slowmo." - energising with true pop sentiments hidden in
twee folk.
Talk to Strangers is full of interesting ballad-esque folk recordings
("Gold" / "Us and the Darkness") marking a shift between
the pop laden tracks such as the previous "Slo Mo Tiger Glo" and the
industrial varieties - "The Machine". Bevan's real quality lies in
her vocal range, similar to Joanna Newsom, with a hint of Fiona Apple's spoken
word alterative pop. "Gold" is a quiet track alike many of Nick Drake's
folk-jazz recordings - seemly influenced by the classical / jazz recordings of
America's populist movement- the sort of material you expect to find out of Tin
Pan Alley - George Gershwin, Harry Warren, and Bernard Bierman among others.
There's variation on Talk to Strangers, it's influenced by a variety of
genres and artists, but it never puts Bevan in a position of being a copyist.
You expect to hear these recordings while shopping at Next, on a playlist with
contemporary folkists Ed Sheeran, James Blunt, and James Morrison - soulful pop
with folk styles.
"The Machine" is finger-picked in the manner of Leonard Cohen,
backed-up by an aggressive beat, replicating the theme, but not at all
representative of Bevan’s lyrics / vocal. Though "The Machine" acts
as a lead single and as one of the less uplifting track on her debut, it still
comes across with its raised chorus as a typical pop song you would hear regularly
on BBC Radio 2. The complete opposite is heard on "Us and the
Darkness" which has relatively sorrow lyricism and another twee
instrumental. It adds to the great musical quality which you wouldn't find on
most pop tinted albums - "Dial D for Denial" only enhances this
stance of the musical characteristics and interchangeable styles and emotions: "All
the inks run, from being cried on." - a lyric sitting high on a
Fun.-esque beat. Bevan reaches the highs with ease, taking this specific track
to an area previously unheard on Bevan's past EPs. Again, it's the variety
which makes Talk to Strangers an album rather than a collection of
previously unheard recordings. "Monsoon Sundance" relishes in
silence, while "Exorcist" tells the loose story of mentally unstable character
Rebecca from Daphne du Maurier's novel of the same name.
A number of tracks on Talk to Strangers have been re-recorded and
brought up to date. One of these is the 10th track "Pirates and Diamonds", a barre chord finger-picking tune which is both catchy and
relies on Bevan's vocal work to carry it. "Pirates and Diamonds" is
covered in light vocal breezes and swirling piano accompaniment. It's backed by
"Forwards", another of these Cohen-esque finger-picking story-telling
songs with heart, soul, and a voice drenched in atmosphere; it just makes the
back half of Talk to Strangers unmissable.
Bevan's debut album is completed by a fantastic closer - "Last Days ofDecadence". This piano outro rings loud with reverb and delay created
through traditional analogue recording and play-backs, as Bevan stated it was
played and re-recorded in a tunnel, creating that vivid atmosphere and Joni
Mitchell piano folk style - "The Last Time I Saw Richard". These
final pieces tie together Talk to Strangers, ending on a high to what probably
will be a very successful 2014 for Bevan, potentially mirroring the rapid climb
of previous British female singer-songwriter Emeli Sande. There's a lot to take
in here, a huge positive leaving Bevan's debut album on a course for
long-lasting timeless listens. The dark end of pop is competeding with folk and
jazz traditions, with Bevan's exquisite lyrical skills formed through a period
of English Literature studying and song-writing. She's writing stories in her
songs, painting pictures which can undoubtedly be interoperated in different ways by
listeners. There's certainly more steps to climb, and Talk To Strangers
is Bevan's epic child she can take with her as she predictably becomes the new
poster for young female singer-songwriters.
~Eddie Gibson
8.0