SHIFT: Pooka: Amazon.co.uk: Music

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4.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars This CD could surprise who don't know Pooka's discography, 29 July 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: SHIFT (Audio CD)

This CD could surprise who don't know very well Pooka's discography. Sharon and Natasha actually began to flirt with electronics at the time of their second CD single, and went on to collaborate with luminaries of the genre like Ultramarine and, more recently, Orbital. For this new CD, they opted instead for another expert, Brian Duffy, and with interesting results, especially when electronic tricks are not too heavy. The opening track, "What You Need", is a real "delicatessen", and these versions of "One In A Million" and "Music Is The Light" are still above average. And "Empty" has some very beautiful icey passages. 5 marks for their brave effort, 4 marks for the result and all in all an album that, thanks to the always brilliant vocals, manage to bring some humanity in this trony world. "Shift" will not delude their old fans and maybe will be able to find new ones.

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4.0 out of 5 stars how they changed!, 4 Nov 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: SHIFT (Audio CD)

This album takes some getting used to if you are into their earlier stuff. There are truckloads of electronics involved an it takes time to discover songs and melodies within. The lyrics have changed tone as well. From the poetic and playful chantings on "spinning", their last album, they have switched to diary-style lyrics. Angst and frustration are leitmotifs. Still, the singing is very touching and elaborate, the songs are unique in their style. I hope they keep going for a long time and re-gain some lust for life.

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Amazon.com: 4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Pooka Makes a "Shift" to a Larger World, 5 Jun 2002

By TNathanael - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: SHIFT (Audio CD)

I like this CD. The music is polished and the lyrics well-crafted. The harmonies are sophisticated and the music combines the energy of techno-pop with an edgy, experimental feel. It is everything one would expect from a sophomore effort. And -- other than the two lead vocalists -- it has absolutely nothing in common with their first CD.

That being said, I have to wax sentimental here. I loved Pooka's debut CD. I loved the whimsy of Graham Robert Wood, Breeze and The Car. I loved the angst filled ballads to mother (Dream) and teacher (Nothing in Particular), wrestling with demons (Demon) and dark water spirits (Sleepwalking), the explorations of love and sex in City Sick, Boomerang, Rolling Stone and Between My Knees. I loved it for everything it was not. It was not copycat material. It was fresh, raw, young talent that was unafraid of being itself, brave enough to exist outside the categories of "folk" and "pop" and "rock." I eagerly awaited more.

Shift is an appropriate title. I did not expect this shift from acoustic to techno. I don't think you can even hear a guitar on this CD, for it is dominated by electronic keyboard and drum tracks. I get the feeling that these two girls went into a studio and went into a creative frenzy trying everything out, a grand experiment a la Bjork. Immediately, I realized they were no longer the guitar-toting teens from the UK. They were young women now, inhabitants of a much larger world. There are no fairy tales here. Their lyrics are almost exclusively preoccupied with love and sex and the dark side of life. Granted, they do so with exquisite lyrics, but after all is said and sung, I am left waiting for something more.

The strongest song on this CD is One in a Million. It is the only one with which I find myself singing along. The other songs are interesting, but not as memorable.

Like I said, I like this CD. I listen to it occasionally. But -- like the parent whose kids are grown and gone, who can't quite put the baby pictures away -- I find myself reaching for the debut CD far more often.

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