Scout Niblett - 'This Fool Can Die Now' (Too Pure) Released 15/10/07

Make-believe and self-invention/identity are themes running through Nottingham born Scout Niblett's work - we find her name 'Scout' adopted from Harper Lee's protagonist in 'To Kill A Mockingbird', and on 'This Fool Can Die Now', the angel of death looms as a figurative presence as a woman has her arm around Lucifer. Now residing in Portland, Oregon, with her fourth album release, here Scout Nibletts' songs are characterised by a yearning for love, and by a certain doomed romance. Shaped by a production history with Nirvana /Pixies producer Steve Albini  has characterised Scout's ascetic, and on 'This Fool Can Die Now', an austere lo-fi minimalism found on previous albums makes for an uneasy listen - the lonesome guitar broods and then thrashes its' frustrations in anguish, the drum and vocal is unadorned, it's when Scout is supported in duets with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's Will Oldman and by violin accompaniment that we see a timelessly classic side to Scout.

Duets with Will Oldman on 'Do You Wanna Be Buried With My People' catch the embers as they die down on a campfire song adopting the minimalist ascetic that Will has pretty much made his own, "....soon I'll reach the glory/ where mortals no longer complain/ and there's a ship that's coming to take me/ and the Captain is calling my name..." they compliment each other with portents of an ending, before finding a that there's a togetherness "...well you're my Queen/ and you're my King/ so let's live and die beside each other...", while 'Kiss' adopts the tender heart-struck track with Scout in a Cat Power vein with Will, with a passion and a fever in love's embrace - "...your kiss could have killed me/ if it were not for rain...", and the chamber-strings adding an Orientalism to 'River Of No Return', a yearning romanticism with a metaphorical allusion to water the body of the emotions with the heart lost in a stormy sea, "...love is a traveller on the river of no
return...".

The lo-fi indie of 'Moon Lake' takes too long to warm to with the spartan bash of drums and Scout's Bjork-ish vocal failing to engage, and the thee and thine medievalism Scout loves so much finds expression on the grunge-core of 'Let Thine Heart Be Warmed' with feisty crescendo's sounding more P.J. Harvey than Polly Jean was able to conjure on 'White Chalk', and Pixies/Nirvana fans further considered with "...the silence that you serve/ is the loudest thing I've heard..." of 'Hide and Seek' and the shrill-toned, predatory "...coming to get ya/ coming to get ya..." of 'Your Chariot', while the no-messing grunge of 'Nevada' finds Scout full of brash and swagger with gritty geetar - "...put on that suit/ and get in my car..." like early Neil Young/Patti Smith, "...oh my love/ oh Nevada...", 

The beatific melancholy of 'Elizabeth (Black Hearted Queen)' captures Scout from a different angle with a broody guitar lilting melody swooped by a lonesome violin - "...are you my real home/ or just the one for now..." as on the timorous strings of 'Yummy', while shades of Joanna Newsom/Regina Spektor creep in to the the cracked vocal of 'Baby Emma' "...let's pulse and let's crackle eternally/ amplify our sorrow for each other to see/ to remember..." furnishing a couple of fine and tender lo-fi moments. 'Dinosaur Egg' comes across as a wacky Regina Spektor-styled number witha Cat Power earnestness - a reluctance to dally with sweet solitude - "...because your a welcome guest sometimes...", a million people coming on Friday to see a dinosaur egg hatch, "...because I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired/ I'd much rather be a ball of light...", and a tortured spirit that seeks to hide its' vulnerability.

A cover of Van Morrison's elegiac 'Comfort You' from his stalwart Veedon Fleece album gets a tender makeover as Scout duets to the country-folk homily - "...just let your tears run wild/ like when you were a child...", and thematically the song stands as a pivotal axis amidst 'This Fool Can Die Now' in the romantic longing and search for requited love. An album worth raking for the jewels amongst the gravel.