Album Review

Daisy Chapman – The Green Eyed

• 2nd Sep 2010

2008 seemed like Rihanna’s year. Throughout the airwaves we were bombarded by her song Umbrella. The Manic Street Preachers even did their own special take on the track. It was all good but it didn’t gather as much attention as Daisy Chapmans own version which scooped her the award for best cover of 2009. Since then she’s been gaining numerous positive responses from the likes of the BBC and she’s collaborated with members of Mogwai in super group Crippled Black Phoenix. Now she’s here with her debut effort.

Madama Jeneva starts off on a rather solemn note. Chapman sings about ‘hookers and bookers’ in 1730’s London. The rather bleak imagery combined with the waltz like piano and rising string sections certainly transports you to 18th century London.

Other tracks in a similar veign include ‘oh daddy’ and ‘Just Give Up, Jessica.’ Both tracks are simple but the way Chapman arranges and plays them makes them all very dramatic from the thundering staccato piano’s to her booming, powerful voice.

Tracks like ‘Stay With Me’ and ‘The Piano’ displays Chapman’s pop sensibilities. Straying away from the images of old London, she puts more of a modern soul throughout these tracks.

Her cover of ‘Ring of Fire’ shows what it would sound like if Cash placed his darker musical elements into the track whilst ‘Umbrella’ is a much lighter and pleasant tone on the more over powering modern pop style of Rihanna’s original.

‘The Green Eyed’ is an evoking album. There’s a lot of emotion throughout Chapman’s music which range from the bleak to the more charming and passionate elements.

7.5/10