Review - Grace Solero - Troops (Single)

Grace Solero - Troops (Single)

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4 out of 10

Why mess with a winning formula? Alexander Fleming would disagree (Were he not chemically dissolved himself) but, in the music business at least, certain standards remain. Guitar bands consisting of three blokes and a blonde singer, for example. It makes things easier for everyone; photographers know how to shoot them (Chaps in the background and blurry), record companies know how to sell them (Chaps in the background and blurry), producers know how to record them (Chaps in the background and blurry), punters know what they're getting (Chaps in the.you get the idea). Grace Solero mix this up a bit, however; you can make out the faces of the chaps in some of their photos, the production on this single is quite radio-friendly sharp and Grace has kept some of her hair dark.

It doesn't make for a life-changing listen but if you like your rock to smoothly pound away whilst you're putting up some shelves or laying a new course of bricks, you probably don't want Proust-with-a-Les-Paul, anyway. There is a tinge of PJ Harvey in the guitars, which mostly pump out standard riffs in a standard tone. The Skunk Anansie comparisons stand up - the Jeff Buckley ones certainly do not. Vocally, Grace is never more than thirty seconds away from a Morrissette warble. This is a shame, because her own voice can do without that sort of gimmickry. There's an ethereal quality to some of her wordless swooping, which is quite an achievement, given the playlist-fellating nature of the song in general.

There's a bit of lyrical politics - 'we're troops of today / how much has this cost?' - and there's a chant underpinning a couple of sections which sounds suspiciously like 'kill all your Sikh army'. If anyone can tell me what it's meant to be, I'd be grateful. The second version of the track adds a minute and a half to the running time but is not noticeably different, other than taking a bit longer to get into its loping stride. As a leading single from their album New Moon it doesn't work as the ball-grabber it's meant to, which is a pity - with more real dirt and less stereotypical rock paraphernalia, Grace Solero could fashion something truly memorable.

Listen: www.myspace.com/gracesolero

Tracklist:
1. Troops (Radio Edit)
2. Troops