Polly Paulusma
Fingers & Thumbs

In the end, Polly plugged in.

After the excellent debut of "Scissors In My Pocket," and a live acoustic performance that was rather negligible, the English songwriter changes course.

No more acoustic guitars, double bass, and brushes, but a prominent electric guitar and a rock attitude that, if not bewildering, at least surprises. We are faced with an album that is undoubtedly rougher than the first, and not just in the sounds. The hard strumming on the electric at the beginning of "Godgrudge," the first track on the album, gives us the exact measure.

And everything continues in this way, not yielding to excessive harshness though, because everything is still brought back to a fundamentally pop form, catchy and very enjoyable. We mentioned harshness, yes, and not just in the sounds. The thematic thread of the work seems to revolve around themes like loss, helplessness ("Day One"), the loss of reference points ("Where I'm Coming From"), yet leaving room in more than one instance for redemption opportunities ("Back To The Start", "Ready Or Not"). However, the Polly Paulusma of the previous album stealthily reemerges once past the halfway point of the listening experience in the title track, a lullaby for guitar and voice, and in "Matilda", a somewhat novel formula with the piano and voice playing in a rather surreal narrative.

Ultimately, "Fingers & Thumbs" is one of those albums that presents itself to the listener as a pleasant surprise, a change of course, and at the same time might make its closest admirers tremble, making them ponder with a question: "...and next time?"