Lissy Trullie : 'Self-Taught Learner'
Released: Out Now!!!
Label: Wichita Recordings
The music scene has provided a bit of a renaissance for women of late. Some of the best music out there at the moment is being produced by women, revitalising a scene which has been far too long dominated by groups of metrosexual eunuchs mumbling about how their trousers are so loose you can see the entirety of their non-existent arses. Lissy Trullie's EP, Self-Taught Learner, shows us exactly why women artists are proving so popular right now; their music simply has more balls.
Self-Taught Learner kicks off with 'Boy Boy', a song which says "For fucks sake, put down the guyliner, you're fooling no-one". In it Lissy Trullie sings about a guy who is all style over substance, shagging the easily impressed but looking ridiculous to those who don't drop their knickers just because he's wearing a pair of skinny jeans, "And all the bedroom doors/ Are traditionally yours/ But all the notches in your belt/ Make your pants tight". Lyrically it's a fantastic rebuff off all those insipid twats that waltz around Hoxton pretending to smoke cigarettes and looking like the poster boy of a new sexual health awareness campaign, my favourite line being "You parade around/ So gay/ It makes me wonder/ Wonder what you're really about". It's not just the words that grab you by the proverbials though but the sound, a slice of genuine Americana which has all the grit and sultry charm of Blondie or Juliette and the Licks. Meaty bass lines copulate with sharp and lean guitar parts to give you that JD and smoke backroom bar feel while Lissy Trullie's voice purrs and growls like a forty-a-day kitten that makes you sweaty with both desire and fear for your own personal safety. The chorus is both insanely catchy, "And all the girls say/ Oooh-ooo, Oooh-ooo-ooo" and dripping with sarcasm in its statement and its typically infectious indie boy band sound.
This is followed by the flip-side of the argument with "She Said", all about a glamorous girl who is all about appearance and as a consequence sells herself short in her relationships. The sound is pure man-eater growl, thick and thudding bass and drums and punchy guitars with Lissy Trullie's fabulous voice being the cherry lip gloss on the top. The lyrics keep up a sardonic sparseness that helps create an effortlessly cool tone; "She said I fell in love with him 'cause he looked good/ That's all she understood".
The next track, the eponymous "Self-Taught Learner" is the real star of the show. It's a song about the aftermath of a relationship where the unfinished business still sticks in your throat. Such a theme would be rife for James Blunt mawkishness but Lissy Trullie avoids all that by keeping everything deliciously simple and retaining the steamy tone of the previous tracks. Every time you hear Lissy go "You don't have to say you love me too/That's not what I want to hear from you" you melt like plasticine left out in the sun, wonderfully tender lyrics sung in a voice you fantasise waking up to to ask you how you take your tea. The song is full of the conflicting emotions you feel when someone's cut out your heart with a blunt spoon, alternating between defiance "I made wishes late in the day/ You're six feet under and your safe" and submission "Oh I want to die with you/ And are you lonely". The backing is perfectly matched, changing from subdued and indifferent to wildly ascending guitars leading to gorgeous cascading vocal lines. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how to write a love song.
The next two tracks provide a complete contrast of tone to the previous tracks with upbeat tempos and Libertine-esque buoyancy. The first, 'Money', despite it's perky surfer-rock sound is a barbed assault on the quest for gaining some sort of status by being in a relationship. The pithy lyrics pick apart those people who think that applying for a joint mortgage and having someone there who makes sure you don't choke to death on your Weetabix means you've really made it in life, "Send me all your lovin'/ The kind I'm looking for/ A ceremony something/ To prove I'm adored." "Forget About It" is a foot stamping floor filler with violent percussive rhythms and ever creeping momentum. It's all about getting hacked off with a potential relationship that never seems to get off the starting blocks making for a fantastically exasperated and infectious chorus "If you want me maybe let me know/ Because I'm so done with feeling so low". This stellar LP goes out with a bang with a cover of Hot Chip's 'Ready For the Floor' in a down and dirty rock outfit with Lissy's voice making you bite your bottom lip and cross your legs.
Lissy Trullie's Self Taught Learner is and absolute gem of a record, and I couldn't be more keen to hear an entire album of their stuff. Their music is sexy, surly rock supporting intelligent and witty lyrics sung by a singer whose voice tugs both at your heart strings and your belt strap; it's absolute heaven. Lissy Trullie is further proof of why women are dominating the music scene right now; they're not demanding you burn your bras, just all those whingeing, listless albums you've bought in the past couple of years. I hear Keane makes excellent kindling.
Words: Harvey Ovenden
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