Although the new album It's Not Me It's You is not out for another week, Lily Allen has been kind enough to stream the whole thing on MySpace.
Her first album Alright, Still attained inexplicable levels of popularity, and although it was nice enough, I was always slightly puzzled by the mass hysteria: what all the fuss about? Admittedly it did offer some "sample-spotting" amusement, but other than that it was just slightly-above-average pop.
Thus, I was not expecting a great deal from the new album, and these expectations were duly met.
Much will be made about the fact that the Professor Longhair samples are replaced with a sort of Stock-Aitken-Waterman aesthetic. Occasionally it works, on 'Not Fair' for example, which does actually feature a banjo sample and vocals reminiscent of Nouvelle Vague or St Etienne. Two tracks later, however, we get the pretty awful 'I Could Say' a perfect example of this new direction not doing Lily any favours. Bombastic over-production that completely swamps what could otherwise have been a nice track.
Perhaps if the same time had been spent on the lyrics as was spend on polishing the thing on ProTools the result would have been better.
'Fuck you' is another track which tries hard but feels like it fails to really deliver anything substantive. Even the Carpenters-sounding piano can't rescue it. It sounds like Allen has just discovered biotry and decided "it's, like...wrong".
Not that's it all bad news. The closer 'He Wasn't There' is a highlight, mainly because I am a sucker for old-style piano loops, but also because it strips down to the bare essentials. It also addresses a very personal relationship with a father figure, and unlike most of the other songs, this one actually has an air of believability to it. It's as if Allen has chosen to hide this little gem somewhere where it won't cause much attention, in favour of her grander numbers. It would have probably been a better album if this balance had been redressed slightly, and she had the confidence to expose her songs a bit more.
Although it has its moments, It's Not Me It's You lacks zest of her début. Let's be honest, this is vacuous pop music that says very little, but sells very well.
On the other hand, what were you expecting? A fucking Joy Division album?
