‘Folklore’ by Nelly Furtardo

‘Folklore’ is an interesting album. Sandwiched between Furtardo’s fist album of pop and third album of R and B, ‘Folklore’ fits into neither category. It also struggles to fit into a category of it’s own. It starts brilliantly – ‘One Trick Pony’ is a riotous blend of fiddle, mandolin, banjo, layered vocals, and who knows what else, ‘Powerless’ continues in a similar vein, and ‘Explode’ adds a thumping rhythm. By the end of the anthemic ‘Try’, the fourth track, everything seems set for a classic album. Even the lesser ‘Fresh Off The Boat’ and ‘Forca’ can be excused – they’re not as good, but they’re still ambitious.

The tone changes after this, however. ‘The Grass Is Green’ and ‘Picture Perfect’ are well written, performed and produced, but they cast aside the interesting flourishes and replace them with all-out mainstream gloss. They’re good, but in a very different way. ‘Saturdays’ is very different – more of an impromptu skit than a song, it’s a good antidote to the tracks before it, but it’s a bit grating on repeated listens. After this, the album dribbles unsatisfactorily to an end. ‘Build You Up’ is dull, ‘Island Of Wonder’ is an culture classh many times more awkward than the first few tracks, and ‘Childhood Dreams’ is an anticlimactic ending. A shame – stick to the beginning, and the album seems much better.