Singles

Eliza Doolittle - Pack Up

Hamish Gibson 09/07/2010

Rating: 3/5

You're sitting in the back of an emptying cinema, watching the credits roll down on yet another gritty drama as a slowly paced minimalist 80s song reminds you just how gritty that drama was. Then the token “it ain't all bad” tune comes on, designed specifically to bring you out of that stupour the film spent two hours dragging you into. Now while the song itself might be just yet another “cheer up it's not you in the film” song, the stark contrast it has with its predecessor is still cleverly arranged, and the song somehow manages to succeed in its task of putting a modest wee smile on your face, even though you're not quite sure how.

Singer-songwriter Eliza Doolittle's 'Pack Up' is that song. It styles itself in such a way that it can be compared to the likes of Duffy and even Amy Winehouse, but it has the upbeat attitude you would associate more with older bands like The English Beat or (dare I say it) Dexy's Midnight Runners.

Sampling WW1 marching song 'Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit-Bag', the song moves between the charming vocals of Doolittle which you think only you like, and a backing band which sounds like a soul band changed their mind and handed their music over to this former child-actress. Now I haven't actually heard any more of the album but all I can say for this song is that it achieves what it sets out to achieve, and while it won't be clogging up my Last.fm, it's certainly a nice one to hear on shuffle every so often.

'Pack Up' is out now on Parlophone, and Eliza Doolittle's self-titled debut album is released on July 12.