Demos

Quilla Constance - EP

Owain Paciuszko 29/10/2010

Rating: 1/5

Babydoll squeaking over electro disco on opening track Snow Daddy feels like a spoof pop hit from satiricial TV series Nathan Barley, AHa synths and processed drum beats, whilst Quilla coos 'This is my body, don't say no' over and over and over. It's an insipid beginning to this four track from Constane who is a 'former lap dancer turned fine artist, turned electro punk singer' and co-writes with producer/composer Rafflesian.

Unfortunately her goo-goo vocals don't fit right over the so-so electro backgrounds, with Dirty Dog sounding like Miss Piggy during the baby flashback showtune I'm Gonna Always Love You from Muppets Take Manhattan, except minus the wit. Similarly nothing sits well on Always Hot with synth stabs stinging awkwardly inbetween Mint Royale meets Marilyn Monroe verses.

Final track Champion begins with a tentative piano chord, before woozily collapsing into a gurgling bass, Constance's voice sounds like a mutant lovechild of Kate Bush and Grace Jones, and when she finally (after three tracks) ditches the grating falsetto squawking on this track's all too brief choruses of 'Oo, bring it on/Oo, champion' she actually proves that she can deliver a decent vocal performance. Unfortunately, these moments are book-ended by her usual cartoon gurning and drenched in lazy electro production that sounds like first draft unused Goldfrapp demos.

There is a momentary flash on that final track that Quilla could be capable of finding a tone that fits her musical accompaniment, but, as it is on these four tracks, her voice and the music are an unholy alliance that I, personally, found pretty painful to listen to.