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The Venue Review

Lenny Savage

‘Pear-Shaped Girl’/ ‘Green’ (Single, Xpress)

Surprises are lovely, aren’t they? Take this locally produced double A-side from 18-year-old chanteuse Savage and her backing band The Doohickies. You might as well expect, from the title, an oestrogen-laden barefoot piano ballad, perhaps Tori Amos’s ‘Cornflake Girl’ only with lyrics bemoaning the insensitivity of patriarchal society towards the female body.

But, pop out the Pimms! What you get instead is a slice of sassy, skirt-flipping swing-folk- all heavy bass, “shoop-da-doop”s and flirty vocals – that’s more like Michelle Shocked crossed with the ‘Belleville Rendezvous’ soundtrack and contains not an atom of self-pity (though to be fair, she’s more of an asparagus spear than a pear, judging from the video). It’s followed up by a scat-dappled, sax and banjo-fuelled jitterbug ‘Green’ creating, in effect, a Twix-like twin pack of yumminess.

Go Lenny! You could be Nailsea’s Lily Allen!

(Anna Britten) 4/5 Stars

www.myspace.com/pearshapedgirl

Audio-Democracy.com Review

Lenny Savage really is sickening. She’s a singer-songwriter who was born in 1988 for crying out loud, and is far too good to be that young (I’m 25, give me a break). Her voice is truly sublime and puts her right up there with the Joss Stones of this world in terms of sheer ability whilst simultaneously broadcasting her own identity to the listener. The vocals give her an air of individuality without becoming distracting and although she seems to have adopted an American twang in part there’s still enough of her own… I’d hesitate to call it an accent, so I’ll call it ‘the way she pronounces words’ (go Audio Democracy! We don’t need no stinking thesauruses!). On a side note I’d be intrigued to hear what her normal speaking voice actually sounds like - from the singing I’d suspect a fairly plummy southern England accent, but I could well be wrong.

As far as the song goes, Lenny has brought her 6/8 to the dance; ‘Soles Of Your Shoes’ is a lilting, swaying folky affair exploring her own foibles as well as those of the people around her, with the Doohickies (her backing band) adding their slick professionalism to the mix. The bassline in particular reminds me of Paul Weller, and if you were to think of something off ‘Wild Wood’ with a more talented Sheryl Crow fronting it you might not be far wrong. Even Lenny’s delivery is individual, not afraid to experiment with syncopating vocals but still throwing in some long notes that actually explore most of her impressive vocal range (but, and this is important, in a way that actually adds to the song instead of showing off. Yes Mariah Carey, I’m looking at you).

There are instances in every genre where someone comes along and does something that you have to sit up and take notice of. I’m not going to throw out references to someone like Beth Orton and pretend I’m clued-up on British folk-rock (even that will probably tell you that my vague knowledge is several years out of date), but I will say this: I don’t care what you listen to, Lenny Savage is a seriously talented singer, and deserves your respect. If she’s producing stuff like this when she’s 18, expect to see her collecting awards and Mercury Music Prizes and goodness knows what else before you can say ‘Pear-Shaped Girl’.