Polly Scattergood: Polly Scattergood

 

You'll know within seven minutes whether you've got the stomach for Polly Scattergood, a youthful Brit School graduate with the name and appearance of a consumptive Dickensian match-girl.

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Opening track Hate the Way piles coy Kate Bushisms upon Prozac Nation lyrics and caps the lot with a croakily theatrical spoken-word coda. Performed alone at the piano, Scattergood's debut would be nearly unbearable (I Am Strong's ghastly self-help testimonial already is), but the widescreen production of soundtrack specialist Simon Fisher Turner goes a long way towards taking the edge off her sixth-form Plathisms ("There are lots of broken fingers in the dark part of my brain") and dignifying her emotional melodrama. Bunny Club rides a deep-house pulse towards a captivating finale redolent of Soft Cell's low-life synth-pop, and Nitrogen Pink is magnificent: a rocket-powered fantasy alliance between Kate Bush and Neu!. There's a lot to be irritated by here, but plenty to love, too.

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