I’m NOT a fan of the new Charlotte Church pop single, “Back To Scratch” and I don’t forsee this one being a “grower” either. There’s something about it that just DOESN’T work. We all know that Church started out her career as a child opera singer and it worked out well for her…for four whole albums it worked out well for her. Then she went ahead and went pop back in 2005 with her Tissues and Issues album. Tissues and Issues was Church’s second highest charting album in the UK behind her debut, producing two top ten and two top twenty singles. Being that this was the first audiences had heard from Church since 2001’s classical album Enchantment, there was something pleasantly unexpected about her “new sound.” I actually really enjoyed singles “Crazy Chick,” “Call My Name” and “Moodswings (To Come at Me Like That),” especially the former two. They were solid pop tracks. New single “Back To Scratch” is NOT a solid pop track. Not by a long shot.
Five years after the release of Tissues and Issues, Church is ready for a musical comeback of sorts and if this first single is any indication of things to come, she might find herself going back into hiding. Back To Scratch (the album) is due out October 25th on indie label Dooby Records and features production from Martin Terefe (Jamie Cullum, KT Tunstall) and Sacha Skarbeck (Adele, Duffy). Church claims that the sound of the album is a “new different sound but also one that goes with my voice,” and unfortunately I don’t agree. The song sounds like it’s trying to be a pop song, but her voice is trying to be classical, too heavy on the vibrato. When you throw the video into the mix it turns into even more of a mess. The video LOOKS to be a slick pop video, but looks can be deceiving. Un-mute it and it just doesn’t work. I would agree with Church, who has called the new songs “quirky” but I don’t necessarily think that’s a good thing. The title track and first single was digitally released on September 19th. I may be judging a book by it’s cover here, the cover being the first single and the book being the new album…but so far…not so good. Here’s hoping the rest of the album isn’t such a musical contradiction.
