Annabell Jones (words) and Charlie Westropp (music).
It’s hard to make an assessment based on a few songs, but we’d say that purely on the evidence presented by Cinderella, one of two tracks on Bluebell’s new single, frontgirl Annabell Jones, offspring of the Monkees’ Davy Jones (RIP), is the best and most talented daughter of a famous pop star.
Jones, formerly of Lady and the Lost Boys, describes what she and her musical partner Charlie Westropp do as “pop with heart and brains and balls” although she neglects to say which of the pair provides what out of that particular configuration of internal and external body parts. As a male-female duo with a distinct separation between words and music chores, it is tempting to see them as a new La Roux, with her out front and him in the shadows/the studio, especially considering the synth-heavy nature of Cinderella and its effervescent poppiness and upward-spiralling vocal. Then again, another track of theirs, an early one called A Brief History, features more “folky” vocals and a more angular approach to songcraft that has more in common with those goth-lite pairings, Daughter and Niki and the Dove.
Normal Heights, the other track on the single, sounds like any one of the current spate of US pop girls or talent show Barbies, and could have come from any number of deathless Swedish or US writing/production squads.
Links: bluebellshouse.net.
The Fat Angel Sings 