Words Are Only in My Mouth

Kate Nash rode the wave of neo-pop music coming out of England late last decade following in the footsteps Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse. Her first two albums were filled with fun throwbacks sounding songs filled with enough snark satisfy any jaded music listener. But something happened after that as she dyed her hair darker and started sounding more like a Riot Grrrl than her poppier sound when she released her Death Proof EP where her trademark snark gives way to pure anger.

Her third full length album Girl Talk tends to bridge the gap between her earlier retro-pop style and Death Proof’s angry nineties white girl style. The new album does feature two songs from Death Proof, the title track from the EP and Fri-end which comes after the album opener Part Heart. They are followed by songs like Sister, where she gets screamier the more the song drags on, and fits in very well with her bass guitar heavy darker sound.

But I like it much better when she reverts back to her original sound like on songs like OMYGOD! Cheesy stylization aside, this is where she goes back to her one woman girl group sound. The best is on 3AM which would not sound out of place on those first two album but more danceable. Girl Talk ends with a duo of surprisingly sparse songs (even more surprising than Rap for Rejection where Nash, well, raps). First up is the acoustic sing along You’re So Cool, I’m So Freaky which is followed by Lullaby for Insomniacs which for the most part drops even the acoustic guitar. It ended up being a better turn than the angrier start to the album.

Song to Download – 3AM

Girl Talk gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.