The Summer Of High Hopes

The former Bowie backing singer and occasional member of The Cardigans is an award-winning solo star in her native Canada, but given her frequent visits here she seems doggedly determined to break out on this side of the pond. Following her eclectic take on a bunch of Irish classics on last year’s Songs Of Love And Death, she wastes little time in returning with this album of her own material recorded on and off over the past three years. Gryner’s voice is a thing of beauty in itself but it’s her songwriting prowess that impresses most on this stylistically varied collection that ranges from indie guitar pop to ethereal ballads
The opener ‘Girls Are Murder’ is a sweeping, power-pop gem that The Bangles would’ve been proud to record in their heyday, while the guitar-dominated ‘All Time Low’ and the power-ballad-of-sorts ‘Almighty Love' are equally radio-friendly without being overtly calculated. The driving guitar riffs on ‘Black-Eyed Blue Sky’ lends it a kind of Placebo-meets-Blondie texture while her vocal approach on the dreamy ‘Star/Crossed’ recalls Kate Bush’s early years. ‘Symphonic’ is the nearest thing to an outright commercial pop song and she carries it out with the kind of skill that makes you understand why record companies might have wanted her to play the pop diva rather than follow her muse
Things take a dramatic turn on the low-key, Tori-like piano accompanied ballad ‘Merlot’ which, along with the more epic if slightly sombre ‘Sweet Destroyer’ showcase yet another side to this talented if frustratingly hard to pin down artist.