Music Reviews
Artist:
Soho DollsTitle:
Ribbed MusicLabel:
Filthy Pretty Records
In image and sonic styling, Soho Dolls aim to capture a sleazy, dark, glam-goth lifestyle of daylight-avoiding hedonism and excess. Their limited edition debut single ‘Prince Harry’ extoled the virtues of stumbling out of seedy nightspots, with lyrics glassily delivered in a highly-stylised manner. Other song titles ‘Pleasures of Soho’ and ‘Stripper’ ensure we get the point.
With a thickly-produced glam-rock guitar fuzz over electronic noise, underpinned with robust syncopated beats, the group ape the harder pop sound that has permeated everyone from Goldfrapp to Ladytron and Girls Aloud, with the cartoonish elements of Marilyn Manson for good measure. The stomp and glitter of glam rock is best typified on the single ‘Stripper’ with a its throwback to Bowie and The Sweet.
The production credits to Steve Lyon and Robert Harder, who between them have worked with Depeche Mode, Kylie Minogue and The Cure, reveal that this is an album that wants to adopt the posturings of the underground whilst appealing heavily to the mainstream.
If this review was appearing in The Sun, much reference would be made to the scantily-clad female singer Maya Von Doll and how the band’s myspace and press pictures feature her provocative pictures whilst most live reviews focus on her outfit or lack of. However, when she opens her mouth the truly wince-inducing lyrics are hilarious, and completely blow the image apart.
Without the same hook-laden songs as Goldfrapp and the more understated craft of Ladytron, Soho Dolls are a bit of a novelty act. Their strong image may carry them so far as will their accessible sound, but unless they start stumbling out of clubs with Pete Doherty, they’re not going to reach a wider audience on the strength of this album alone.
