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Track Listings
| 1. Sweet Tooth Bird |
| 2. Humble Digs |
| 3. Dodecahedron |
| 4. Atlas |
| 5. NightSwimmer |
| 6. The Barely Skinny Tree |
| 7. Liliputt |
| 8. Veins |
| 9. Franklin Benedict |
| 10. Carousel |
Product Description
Review
At last, a glamorous Geordie showbiz lass that LA can understand. Twenty-two-year-old Beth Jeans Houghton grew up absorbing albums by Joni Mitchell and the ladies of the canyon and dreamed of decamping to the City of Angels. Quitting school early to fulfil her musical ambitions, by the close of her teens the statuesque blonde with a sophisticated set of pipes – equal parts Imogen Heap, My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden and those aforementioned distaff canyon troubadours – was an industry tip for the top with Next Big Thing practically tattooed on her forehand. In fact, Houghton’s hooves of destiny would be slowed to a canter and the shoo-in to stardom failed to materialise, mainly thanks to the protracted recording of this curiously named debut. Now, it seems, her time has finally come.
Brimming with galloping rhythms, vertiginous, hairpin-turn arrangements, baroque string flourishes, brass fanfaronades and soaring choirs, this never less than striking opening salvo exudes artistic confidence, if not downright chutzpah. Typically, opener Sweet Tooth Bird erupts in an explosion of martial drums, parping trumpets and, by turns, towering and witchy vocal descants which make Florence Welch sound like a shrinking violent by comparison. The chimera-like Humble Digs, meanwhile, finds room for banjos, a vocal steal from Talking Heads’ Air and a grand symphonic pop chorus that might have fallen off an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.
Even when the torrential, kitchen-sink attack abates, as on the delicate, ukulele-strumming intro to Lilliput, the hurtling drums and gilded string phalanxes are soon pouring over the folky barricades, Houghton surfing the music in a delicious formation of immense overdubbed contralto harmonies.
The tag ‘psychedelic’, which is routinely appended to descriptions of BJH’s music, seems somewhat misplaced. Sure, corrida trumpets straight out of Love’s Forever Changes, and vivid, altered state lyrics about ‘boys with eyes of mercury’ abound, but this is music which evinces at least a passing acquaintance with Tin Pan Alley principles, and, for all its art-folk inspirations, it might have been tailored for a contemporary mainstream audience who like their mellifluous pop cut with a dash of vaulting kookiness.
--David Sheppard
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
CD Description
Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose introduces one of the most self-assured new artists of the year, a pop polymath whose blend of psychedelia, glam rock and chain gang folk is quite unlike anything else you’re likely to hear in 2012. Like her utterly unique stage outfits, it’s made from disparate individual elements that wouldn’t work on paper, but sing out like a holy choir in the execution. Adding muscle to Beth’s far-ranging vocals are her band The Hooves Of Destiny. Comprising Dav Shiel (drums, vocals samples) Rory Gibson (bass, vocals), Ed Blazey (guitar, trumpet, vocals) and Findlay Macaskill (violin, vocals), they’re a crack unit recruited from Beth’s native North East. Three years in the making, this album was created with producer Ben Hiller (Blur / Elbow / Depeche Mode).
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny - Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose (Mute)
I must stop taking people's Facebook pages as gospel. Beth Jeans Houghton's claims "(She) was born in Transylvania to a pack of albino wolves who raised her on chewing tobacco and stuffed clams. Despite they're hospitality, love conquers all and she soon eloped to scotch corner with her shiny new stallion Peter Andre". I'm sure less than half of that's true. The mild eccentricities of her biography are more than reflected in her music, a merging of Gothic folk, progressive spurts, Kate Bush-esque orchestrated grandeur and pure showmanship. Live, she certainly looks the part, with a bewitching wardrobe of the weird and wondrous; that she's able to carry those feelings of magic and spectacle onto her debut full-length recording is both astonishing and admirable.
The album begins with "Sweet Tooth Bird", with brass and a marching band beat barely settled before Houghton's remarkable vocal takes control. "Humble Digs" seems far more straightforward, but of course it's nothing of the sort as the song breaks down into separate, glorious parts. "Dodecahedron" is lush and quite otherworldly as its dream-lyric unfolds. When taken as a whole "Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose" is really quite enchanting, an exquisite journey into a world that isn't quite there. It's an album to be lived with and cherished - and records like that don't come along too often.
I must stop taking people's Facebook pages as gospel. Beth Jeans Houghton's claims "(She) was born in Transylvania to a pack of albino wolves who raised her on chewing tobacco and stuffed clams. Despite they're hospitality, love conquers all and she soon eloped to scotch corner with her shiny new stallion Peter Andre". I'm sure less than half of that's true. The mild eccentricities of her biography are more than reflected in her music, a merging of Gothic folk, progressive spurts, Kate Bush-esque orchestrated grandeur and pure showmanship. Live, she certainly looks the part, with a bewitching wardrobe of the weird and wondrous; that she's able to carry those feelings of magic and spectacle onto her debut full-length recording is both astonishing and admirable.
The album begins with "Sweet Tooth Bird", with brass and a marching band beat barely settled before Houghton's remarkable vocal takes control. "Humble Digs" seems far more straightforward, but of course it's nothing of the sort as the song breaks down into separate, glorious parts. "Dodecahedron" is lush and quite otherworldly as its dream-lyric unfolds. When taken as a whole "Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose" is really quite enchanting, an exquisite journey into a world that isn't quite there. It's an album to be lived with and cherished - and records like that don't come along too often.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Of all the new albums I've bought this year (quite a few), this is the one I keep returning to. It's a superb debut, combining elements of every musical genre you can think of, but at its heart is great songcraft. There are moments of great intensity and energy, but also wonderful moments of sublety and lightness of touch.
For me, it's my album of the year so far.
For me, it's my album of the year so far.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Fantastic lp reminiscent of Florence and the Machine, Laura Marling and Smoke Fairies. And then it goes all Pogues right at the end. Brilliant!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Amazing
This Album gives me faith in new music. Beth has an amazing voice, the Hooves are extremely talented musicians and also sing well. Read more
Published 23 days ago by Mookyzook
Sublime
Bought this CD pretty much 'cold' on the strength of its 4-stars in Q. It should've got five - it's just magnificent. No other word for it. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Smoke Fairy
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