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Review
"Are you ready for the next big thing?" sings 21-year-old Hannah Clark on Tyrant Song, the hardest and rockiest cut on this debut album. Grunge riffs power away behind her, and there’s no doubt about it: her question is wickedly rhetorical.
This debut is a polished pop gem that could elevate Clark into the mainstream. Her template is simple but effective: cribbing a delicious gloominess from Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails, and sugar-coating it with catchy choruses. One of the songs here, The Black Lodge, is named after a fictional setting in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks – and Clark tries to draw that Lynchian sense of uncertainty and unpredictability, of things lurking in the shadows, into her pop structures. The result is reminiscent of Howling Bells, and it’s no surprise to find out that Dan Grech-Marguerat, who produced the Australian band’s Radio Wars album of 2009, is behind the mixing desk for Bad Dream Hotline. His signature is all over it.
As well as Tyrant Song, Get Money and Genie in a Coke Can are the obvious radio hits-in-waiting, both edging close to glam rock as they stomp from the speakers, and both carrying a message. "Get money, die young, live fast, die young, get money, get numb, get numb, get numb," Clark sings on the former, apathy and anger filling her voice. On Genie in a Coke Can – note the sly nod to/dig at Christina Aguilera – a spoken, mocking middle-eight spouts: "I want all the men to salivate when they see me, I want, I want, I want…"
Morally at least, it’s a step up from Rihanna. But does she have the songs to emulate that pop siren’s success? Not yet: for every Get Money there’s a Jailhouse, a song that lacks the essential sparkle to make it remarkable. But as far as debuts go from 21-year-olds, this is hugely promising, and it would be no surprise at all if Foe found herself all over the radio by the end of 2012.
--Mike Haydock
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Foe is, substantially, one Hannah Louise Clark and she has youth and
chutzpah on her side in this impressive and highly energetic debut.
'Bad Dream Hotline' is formidable slab of dark, grungy pop with a few
soft edges just in case we might start to think of her as a one trick pony.
Ms Clark has a strong voice and a fierce sense of determination in nailing
these twelve fine songs to the mast. She seems to have sprung fully-formed
out of nowhere to stake a claim on her fifteen minutes of fame. In all probability
this recording is just the start of something which will endure considerably longer.
The edgy and atmospheric production by Entrepreneurs serves her well.
The set commences with the down-beat opening of 'Ballad For The Brainkeepers'
(all moody B-Movie organ and Bride Of Dracula vocals) but when the main riff
kicks in it arrives like a kick in the groin and Ms Clark puts heart and soul
and a whole lot of drama besides into her performance (and all this in little
more than two and a half minutes!) The huge drum sound of 'Mother May I?' (with
more tasty squelchy vintage organ) supports another corker ( Ms Clark doesn't
exactly sound like the kind of girl who would take her Mother's advice!) and
'Jailhouse' sports some deliciously angular guitar playing and well-focussed
vocal harmonies. 'A Handsome Stranger Called Death' makes a strong bid to be
top of the pile; a minor-key piece of sultry malevolence (yet more creepy organ),
although the almost delicate waltz-time 'Dance and Weep' comes a close second.
Final track 'Bad Dream Hotline' is a sweet and sour tangled little nightmare.
Foe would appear to be a new force to be reckoned with. I wish her well.
Highly Recommended.
chutzpah on her side in this impressive and highly energetic debut.
'Bad Dream Hotline' is formidable slab of dark, grungy pop with a few
soft edges just in case we might start to think of her as a one trick pony.
Ms Clark has a strong voice and a fierce sense of determination in nailing
these twelve fine songs to the mast. She seems to have sprung fully-formed
out of nowhere to stake a claim on her fifteen minutes of fame. In all probability
this recording is just the start of something which will endure considerably longer.
The edgy and atmospheric production by Entrepreneurs serves her well.
The set commences with the down-beat opening of 'Ballad For The Brainkeepers'
(all moody B-Movie organ and Bride Of Dracula vocals) but when the main riff
kicks in it arrives like a kick in the groin and Ms Clark puts heart and soul
and a whole lot of drama besides into her performance (and all this in little
more than two and a half minutes!) The huge drum sound of 'Mother May I?' (with
more tasty squelchy vintage organ) supports another corker ( Ms Clark doesn't
exactly sound like the kind of girl who would take her Mother's advice!) and
'Jailhouse' sports some deliciously angular guitar playing and well-focussed
vocal harmonies. 'A Handsome Stranger Called Death' makes a strong bid to be
top of the pile; a minor-key piece of sultry malevolence (yet more creepy organ),
although the almost delicate waltz-time 'Dance and Weep' comes a close second.
Final track 'Bad Dream Hotline' is a sweet and sour tangled little nightmare.
Foe would appear to be a new force to be reckoned with. I wish her well.
Highly Recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is a smashing album & they are destined for great things this year.
The 2 stand out songs are Tyrant Song, Genie in a Coke Can, but it is a solid album & filled with well constructed grunge rock (?) songs.
A touch of Nirvana, Garbage, Cure guitars (Disintegration era) & a big helping of something original.
The 2 stand out songs are Tyrant Song, Genie in a Coke Can, but it is a solid album & filled with well constructed grunge rock (?) songs.
A touch of Nirvana, Garbage, Cure guitars (Disintegration era) & a big helping of something original.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
If there was nothing else to Hannah Louise Clark's repertoire as Foe than the Christina Aguilera-baiting Genie In A Coke Can it would still be more than enough for me. It's biting lyrics along the lines of "millions in marketing of pop star trash" and it's catchy refrains of "I want to be a worldwide sensation, I want all men to salivate over me" might well be the most scathing and accurate attack on SOME parts of the modern pop world you'll be lucky to hear.
That it's wrapped in the kind of radio-friendly unit shifter melody that one of her musical hero's Kurt Cobain both sought for and hated just makes the skewering all the more delicious.
And it's far from the only highlight.
Ode To Janey Lou makes Grunge seem relevant for the first time in years (although the song is much more than juts that) whilst even when slowing things down a little, on the wonderfully titled A Handsome Stranger Called Death, there is a vitality that makes for great listening. In truth there's a lot more on Bad Dream Hotline that hits the spot than that that doesn't.
So if, like me, you were slightly put off by the press releases where tales of being suspected of being a witch by her schoolmates made it difficult to work out whether or not you should believe what you hear, then rectify that right now. Treading a line between willful eclecticism and straight up awesome pop melodies but giving you the best of those opposites to come up with something that, with any justice, should place Foe alongside some of those pop-stars backed with mega-million marketing before 2012 is out.
Perhaps the only criticism I can bring forward is that there could almost be said to be a little TOO much going on in the twelve songs as if the Foe "sound" has yet to settle on what it really wants to be. But hey, that can wait until the second album.
That it's wrapped in the kind of radio-friendly unit shifter melody that one of her musical hero's Kurt Cobain both sought for and hated just makes the skewering all the more delicious.
And it's far from the only highlight.
Ode To Janey Lou makes Grunge seem relevant for the first time in years (although the song is much more than juts that) whilst even when slowing things down a little, on the wonderfully titled A Handsome Stranger Called Death, there is a vitality that makes for great listening. In truth there's a lot more on Bad Dream Hotline that hits the spot than that that doesn't.
So if, like me, you were slightly put off by the press releases where tales of being suspected of being a witch by her schoolmates made it difficult to work out whether or not you should believe what you hear, then rectify that right now. Treading a line between willful eclecticism and straight up awesome pop melodies but giving you the best of those opposites to come up with something that, with any justice, should place Foe alongside some of those pop-stars backed with mega-million marketing before 2012 is out.
Perhaps the only criticism I can bring forward is that there could almost be said to be a little TOO much going on in the twelve songs as if the Foe "sound" has yet to settle on what it really wants to be. But hey, that can wait until the second album.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Best thing to come out from the uk in a long time!!
I can listen to this album all day and not get bored!!!! Just love it! Hannah Clark you rock the socks off me!!!! Don't stop making music!
Published 1 month ago by AniAnhai
Deliciously Dark
Great Voice and gripping lyrics. Some songs grab immediately and others are more slow burning. All have that edge and hooks that stick in your mind.
Published 3 months ago by Phlute
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