Anna Burch “Quit The Curse”

This may be Anna’s debut album but she’s not really a new comer as she’s be playing music since her teens. She’s gone through solo incarnations and played in a number of bands. But it would seem things have all come perfectly together with the release of “Quit The Curse”.

Certainly when you hear songs like “2 Cool 2 Care”, “Asking For A Friend” And “In Your Dreams” you can see why Anna Burch could be considered very “now”. Like recent breakthrough artists such as Waxahatchee and Courtney Barnett, these songs are, in some ways, deceptively laid back. Whilst they have sweet melodies and an easy going feel, that belies the more intricate and intelligent lyrical content.

Indeed, there is also an element of the brilliant Jenny Lewis to songs like “Tea Soaked Letter” and title track “Quit The Curse”. These see an added bit of pop sheen given to the tracks. It results in songs which are capable of grabbing the attention of the casual listener. They will then be fully dragged in by the deeper current of songs like “Yeah You Know”.

Of course, it won’t also come as a surprise that when an element of country or Americana is thrown in on numbers like “Belle Isle” and “With You Every Day” you will find your mind wandering to the slacker sound of Ryan Adams or Father John Mistry.

The danger with all this is you might be tempted to think that this is just a ‘scenester’ album, perfectly suited for the background music in your favourite hipster coffee shop. But that would be a huge disservice to this release and to Anna herself. Instead, what you have is an album full of charming and appealing songs, as perfectly demonstrated by the irresistible “What I Want”. There is no sense of just being cool for cools sake, quite the opposite, the songs come across as genuine and heartfelt numbers. They’re an early accompaniment to a day in a sunny festival field or even your own garden.