Number 3 of 2005 — Juliet: Random Order
The perfect specimen. Quite how much of the Model turned Singer story you believe depends on which websites you visit. But this is Juliet Richardson’s third attempt at musical success. Previous incarnations saw her as a member of 1 plus 1 (who?) which was then reformatted as MNQNN (who?). In 2004, she teamed up with a pre-Madonna Stuart Price, to record this album over a two week period.
The perfect specimen. There’s the familiar adage that dog owners look like their dogs. In Juliet’s case, this music sounds exactly how she looks, perhaps better than any other artist, if indeed, this is a required trait. It’s angular, bare and passionate, best demonstrated in the video to Ride The Pain, where Juliet repeatedly clambers over dozens of people trying to drag her away from her mic stand. And notice this: it holds two microphones. It is, as I remarked in my first track of the day from this release, a faultless album.
But why? For something produced so spontaneously, the music is meticulously executed. The structures unfold, build, collapse and rebuild exactly how they should do, regardless of the song or style. This is, for a lover of music, a genuinely jaw-dropping album. Pardon the clichés, but every one is true. First track AU, starts with the clearest vocals and effected spiraling bassline. Gradually, the backing builds before it drops briefly to introduce one short guitar riff and a sliver of dead air which is shattered by what follows. The snippets of autobiography which dot the lyrical landscape start here, perhaps.
Club hit Avalon, documenting two facets of the velvet rope: the cult of celebrity and the superficiality of clubbing with all of their attendant consequences, (yeah, just listen), doesn’t drop. It just builds over its seven minutes until a mournful piano reflects the ultimate emptiness. Nu Taboo converts this into an obsession with craving new experiences, adding synthetic squalls.
Then there’s Ride The Pain. Casual listeners might think we’re onto the third facet of the velvet rope (probably best documented in Janet Jackson’s 1997 album). But we’re not. Instead “ride the pain into the pleasure” refers to a personal struggle, finally banished. Now you understand the video, and why Juliet has two microphones.
I’ve not written much about the music, but that’s because I can’t. To explain the nuances in each track that determine and define their utter brilliance would take weeks. Everything is positioned with exquisite precision.
But I will try to explain Puppet. More velvet. Not rope this time. Just velvet. It’s extremely luscious, sexy and domineering. Musically, it uses the cut-up sample techniques of Mirwais, particularly with respect to the guitars. However, the overall sound is chock full of curious found sounds, that barely fit together. That’s up until the CR78 drums and harpsichord break drop in. Both so unexpected, but oh so beautiful. They come back into the rest of the song, sounding like they were always there in the first place.
We’re back to the clubs for On The Dancefloor. The simplest, most uplifting song on the album. Genuine dance music. And, if you never experienced the joy of clubbing at the Banshee in Manchester in the 1980s, this will take you there. It’s the core gothic riff: it was always the punks who were miserable, anyway.
Fortunately, the album isn’t full of straight-on dance. The extended intro of Waiting has timewarped guitars over which Juliet’s heartbroken lyrics tumble. They then fall into a pneumatic yet understanded backing, that breaks me every time I hear its first bar. Probably the highlight of the album.
New Shoes criticises serial relationships. “And if i don’t have you I don’t have nothing at all”. It’s this song that perhaps best demonstrates Juliet’s vocal powers. She’s no mere auto-tuned diva. Curiously, the later Untied, simultaneously craves and despises relationships. It’s the sparsest song built essentially on two riffs until the William-Orbit-pings, whereupon every breath and moan that accompanies its conclusion brings further depth. The middle of this triptych is the multifoiled Would You Mind.
The closing track, Pot of Gold, is the most telling. Over acoustic guitars and slower beats, Juliet tells us that she’s finally got what she wanted, maybe personally, maybe professionally, which leads us into considering ourselves.
Unfortunately, this is where third time lucky appears not to be the case, because despite a generally positive critical reception, there have been no further singles released, and her official website hasn’t seen any updates for seven months. Last heard, Juliet was writing tracks for her second album. The forum’s dead (but it was never really alive) and her myspace page has gone.
And that news hurts the most.
[Amazon UK]
[iTunes UK]
