Jenny on Holiday shares debut solo album ‘Quicksand Heart’
One half of Let’s Eat Grandma goes solo on her first full length.
★★★★☆
Photo: Press
Quicksand Heart is the debut solo album from Jenny Hollingworth, formerly of British indie pop duo Let’s Eat Grandma. I never caught much of Let’s Eat Grandma when they were around, but upon listening to Quicksand Heart, it is abundantly clear that Hollingworth is a special songwriter writing songs filled with heart and passion. In Quicksand Heart, Hollingworth has put together an infectious collection of disco indie pop tunes that are as euphoric and jubilant as they are melancholic and reflective.
If this album sounds like somebody who is trying to prove themselves, it is probably because that is what it is. It is full of songs that channel the uncertainty of life. The moments where we might be unsure of ourselves, but we carry on anyway. It is brimming full of sincerity and energy, and the spirit in these songs is almost as infectious as the melodies that spill out of their big choruses. These songs are made to soundtrack John Hughes-style coming-of-age films. They are made for long, late-night drives under the stars. Sometimes this sort of sincerity and passion can feel put on, but it’s hard not to get swept up into the energy and conviction that Hollingworth puts into all of her songs.
The opening three tracks in particular fire out of the traps at lightning speed. It’s tricky not to contain a smile on your face as the chorus to the title track launches itself into your ears. The songs that bookend the album, in particular, are sublime slices of melancholic disco pop. Good Intentions gets the album racing out of the gates. As Hollingworth declares that we “go out dancing tonight”, it’s clear that, however much melancholy is induced in these songs, they don’t forget to be fun too. Only on a couple of songs does that melancholy lose a bit of its bombast and start to feel a little more subdued and thus less interesting. The closer, Appetite, brings us right back, though, with a raging and infectious sing-along outro that just makes you want to flip the record and play it back all over again.
Singer-songwriter records have felt like a case of diminishing returns over the past few years. Old favourites seem to be plateauing, and the genre doesn’t seem to be particularly full of new ideas. However, in part due to the clear passion in the performances, these songs sound fresh and exciting. They take the melancholic spirit that was all over Stranger In The Alps-era Phoebe Bridgers and fuse it with the disco-influenced drums and big pop choruses of an album like Taylor Swift’s 1989. More interestingly, though, a lot of the drums and melodies sound straight out of The Jesus and Mary Chain songbook. In a genre that is never wholly original, the combination of these sounds and styles makes for a really captivating collection of pop songs. This album will put a smile on your face. Can we really ask for much more than that?
Quicksand Heart is out now via Transgressive Records.
