NiTasha Jackson - 'First Love'

Strangely-named American newcomer NiTasha Jackson’s cover of 'First Love' by the Maccabees isn’t too bad. It’s a strange choice for a girl who’s more R ‘n’ B than Maccabee but she’s stripped the tune right back to just her lovely voice and her piano and it works well for a song about the aches and pains of first love. The problem is the song: while she might think she is the Jeff Buckley to the Maccabees’ Leonard Cohen this is no ‘Hallelujah’. ‘First Love’ is a pretty song, but it ain’t clever. The words don’t have a lot to say, and without catchy licks to cover that up it fails to shine.

Released 11/02/08 on Weekender Records.