Album Review: Katy J Pearson, Sound of the Morning

Sound Of The Morning springs open with an ominous rolling synth and, although it swiftly recedes behind jaunty fingerpicking, it hovers for a while and you can’t ignore it. Then that voice enters – unmistakably Katy J Pearson, with parts of  Aldous Harding, Dolly Parton and Kate Bush – welding the disparate fissures.

‘Confession’ and ‘The Hour’ make for interesting bedfellows, the latter featuring Pearson alone on gently strummed guitar. The former, meanwhile, offers a pulsing bass and jungle breakbeat. Pearson is master of both forms, twisting them plait like on the cut-up word association of ‘Alligator’.

‘Talk Over Town’ narrates how Katy from Gloucester morphed into wonderkid Katy J Pearson. A martial beat escorts her from the empty streets of her hometown, and into the body of the record she goes a-seeking. Masterful pinging synths muscle into War On Drugs territory, which is a delightful surprise, wholly unpredictable as it is.

Red hot producers Ali Chant and Dan Carey oversee a host of exquisite arrangements – the squelchy basslines and brass entry on ‘Howl’ are fantastic, with Pearson’s vocal soaring à la Hounds Of Love. Meanwhile, the soul diva intro, disco stomp, funky bass and multi-tracked voices of ‘Game Of Cards’ – with its flecks of country – makes you think of Beck’s Odelay, which is never a bad thing.

It’s a record that contains a whole heap of guts.

9/10