Muzic Junkie » Cathy Dennis

Diana Vickers Album Sampler Review

Muzic Junkie — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:15:01 +0000

Diana Vickers’ debut album has been much anticipated since she finished The X Factor in 4th place in 2008. This week her album tracklist was released via her official website along with the album title Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree. Today the album sampler for Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree leaked onto the internet two months in advance of the scheduled release date.

The sampler includes the following five tracks:

01. Once – The Cathy Dennis and Eg White penned debut single which puts everything people loved about Diana on The X Factor into its 3 minutes, 12 seconds while also defining her sound as a artist. While Once is a debut single, Diana’s unique quirky vocal makes her recognisable and it seems like you are listening to an established artist rather than a new one.

02. Remake Me And You – A Diana co-write with Brit Award winner Ellie Goulding and Guy Sigsworth which sounds a bit Alphabeat-esque. It’s very repetitive and doesn’t seem to reach where it’s trying to go but instead sounds like it’s going around in circles.

03. The Boy Who Murdered Love – Another Diana co-write with Chris Braide. The verses sound like a good Gwen Stefani ballad while the chorus escalates into another one-word repeating spree similar to Once but with a darker, melancholic melody.

04. My Hip – A Harmony Boucher and Tobias Karlsson track. After a few listens, My Hip is definitely the weakest song on the sampler but it’s still listenable. It just seems to plod along with nothing really interesting about it. The production is nice but the song lacks a stronger melody.

05. Put It Back Together Again – A Nerina Pallot track and the best song on the sampler. It’s very melancholic and atmospheric. It’s by far Diana’s best vocal to date. It builds like a big Snow Patrol ballad. The only thing to fault with this track is the mouthful in the chorus when Diana tries to squeeze “put it back together again” into such a small time frame.

Overall, the album is shaping up to be quite a strong debut and possibly the best debut to come from an ex-X Factor contestant yet. It proves that spending time to develop a sound instead of rush-releasing an album off the back of The X Factor pays off as Diana is demonstrating with this album.

Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree is set for release on April 26th through RCA Records.

Diana Vickers – “Once” Debut Single

Muzic Junkie — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:27:10 +0000

Diana Vickers is finally releasing her long awaited debut single this April, the Cathy Dennis and Eg White penned track Once. Diana was our favourite to win The X Factor 2008 where she placed 4th and we’ve been waiting for her debut ever since. Popjustice chose Once as today’s Song of The Day posted alongside a short clip of the track.

Once has the same sound as Jumping Into Rivers which leaked last year but sounds more like a debut single than …Rivers. Diana’s distinctive vocals take the track from being average to very good. Had another artist been singing on the track, it could have sounded a little boring. It’s very instant and even after your first listen, you’ll never forget it.

[See post to listen to audio]

Once will be released on April 19th through RCA Records.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor – “Bittersweet”

Muzic Junkie — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:53:17 +0000

Sophie Ellis Bextor’s lead single from her forthcoming album is entitled Bittersweet as announced by Sophie herself via her Twitter account today. Bittersweet sees Sophie teaming up with previous collaborators Freemasons as well as Hannah Robinson and Biff Stannard.

Sophie described the song’s meaning as:

…when you can’t resist something that you know is bad for you. a guilty pleasure. like watching celebrity big brother.

On her official blog she added:

It’s a good introduction to the fourth album because, as with the majority of the record, it’s a song you can dance to. The new tracks feature collaborations with Calvin Harris, Metronomy, Cathy Dennis, Richard X and Edrcourt. It’s been a lovely experience to make this album and I am so looking forward to sharing it with you all.

Bittersweet will be sent to radio in February with a scheduled early April release followed by the yet to be titled new album through Fascination.