release date: Aug. 6, 2007
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,55]
producer: Paul Epworth
label: Fiction Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 2. "Foundations" (4 / 5) (official censored version) live on later) - 3. "Mouthwash" - 4. "Dickhead" - 5. "Birds" - 6. "We Get On" - 8. "Shit Song" - 11. "Nicest Thing"
Studio album debut by Kate [Marie] Nash following the release of the non-album single of Feb. "Caroline's a Victim" with "Birds" (demo) as B-side, which is included on this album.
Thematically, Nash follows in the footprints of Lily Allen, who paved a new way for female artists singing in an original British dialect about relationships and modern society's unwritten standards wrapped up in witty, direct and often explicit lyrics. The style, however, differs somewhat from that of Allen by being more contemporary shaped without strong bonds to former styles. Sometimes it's uptempo synth-and-electropop-founded - at other times, which is most of the time on this album - the music is arranged with acoustic guitar, piano, strings and horns - Nash both plays the piano, guitar, bass, and synths herself.
The single "Foundations" (Jun. 2007) preceded the album and it was an immediate hit and the absolute right choice as it remains the only top-10 single hit by Nash reaching number #2 on the national singles chart list. Three othr singles then follwed: "Mouthwash" and then "Pumpkin Soup" both peaking at number #23, followed by "Merry Happy", which didn't enter top-100. Two other songs became Nash staples: "Nicest Thing" and "Dickhead", and the album simply topped the charts by Sep. 2007 selling 2x Platinum (more than 600.000 items - in comparison Back to Black by Amy Winehouse from that same year sold 15 x Platinum and more than 4,5 mil. copies in the UK alone).
I do recall how "Foundations" and "Mouthwash" were both played numerous times that year, and also remember how I found it somewhat difficult to distinguish the music by Nash from that of Lily Allen, and this is a comparison she has been confronted with throughout her career.
Made of Bricks is a strong debut. Imo it contains some fine, memorable and quite original songs but I don't consider it great altogether and some of the album songs, especially in the second half of the album, don't quite match the quality of the first three songs but it's defintely an album worth checking out and considerably better than some of the British reviews suggest. It's an album among many during this period that actually made people listen to the lyrics by contemporary female artists.
Recommended.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5, 👍PopMatters, Slant 3,5 / 5, Pitchfork 5,5 / 10, 👎The Guardian, Drowned in Sound 2 / 5 stars ]
