Katie Melua
Pictures

THE REVIEW

When they ask me what I think of Katie Melua, I respond without hesitation that her music is pleasant, but then I forget about my interlocutor and lose myself in a fantasy where Katie and I are married or something like that. Her physical appearance sometimes seems to be the only work of art worth considering when talking about her.

Let's be honest, Katie Melua's discography doesn't have great artistic value, I'm afraid.

An astute producer finds a sweet-and-cute young Folk-Singer with a sweet-and-cute voice, and builds for her elegant pop records imbued with Blues and Folk, musical genres that usually enchant even stones. And that's all. Not very poetic, I know. It must be admitted that Katie Melua is also the author of some songs, but generally the best in her discography are written by the aforementioned producer, who, for the record, is named Mike Batt.
Nothing innovative and no genius can be found among these albums, which in any case are good products, including "Pictures", an album released in 2007.

The album starts pleasantly well, "Mary Pickford" is a decidedly catchy folk tune and "It's All In My Head" is a song with a typically vaguely bluesy verse and a breezy and beautiful chorus.
There's nothing worse than a catchy but insignificant melody: "If The Light Go Out", the third track, exudes an unpleasant whiff of saccharine pop worth 4 pennies with an unusually full arrangement, almost pop-rock. Also "What I Miss About You" is rather far from blues and folk, but its beautiful melody reassures us: Katie can sing pure pop songs without them necessarily being bad. "Spellbound" is another pop song slightly tinged with folk by its arrangement, with a catchy and rhythmic melody.

"What It Says On The Tin" is a ballad, with the usual clever arrangement and the delicious interpretation of the young singer. "Scary Films" is a nice blues-rock, one of the best moments of the album, whereas soul sounds in the following "Perfect Circle". "Ghost Town" is also a good track, with a reggae rhythm and a chorus enriched by backing vocals. The ballad "If You Were A Sail Boat" and the umpteenth cleverness of the album, "Dirty Nice", are also nice. The last piece, "In My Secret Life", is instead a cover of the great Leonard Cohen, interpreted with dignity.

In short, this album isn't exactly a transcendental musical phantasmagoria, but it's certainly a good product of sophisticated pop, with at least 10 enjoyable tracks (out of a total of 12). A refined and at the same time light album, a bit pop, a bit blues, and a bit folk... All in all easy-listening.

Rating: 6.5/10