I have been lucky enough to have been listening to Speech for a few years now. I first heard her back in the glory days of Colin Murray's Radio 1 show in November 2008 (when I was a lad. i miss that fella. genuine inspiration to me. Grimmy isnt so bad though)... First saw her as an impromptu fill-in support act for Gary Go album launch at the Luminiare Club in Kilburn ROUGHLY this time last year.
It was one of those thunderbolt moments when KABAM, she came on the radio. Insta-cream. I genuinely thought everything about Searching (probably her most famous and well known track) was 'perfect'. Like i said. THUNDERBOLT. I LOVE the drums *tis tis-tis. tis tis-tis* and the drummer, the simple melody line. couple that with the vaguely frenetic lilting vocals then there we are. Her use of pragmatic turns of phrase (I am still waxing jizzical over Searching by the way - stick with me), easy vocabulary and fairly cutting content leaves me in a blissful (get used to me using that word) state of mind. Simple. Effective. Joyful to listen to.
THEN she goes and releases an album [insert token 'she won the mercury prize' comment here] that takes you through a few different states of mind, a few emotional key changes, an awesome blend of instruments and arrangements - SMASH. You got one of those albums that you start listening to (Searching is the opener) and then listen all the way through to the end - effortlessly.
Highlights - the clarinets, double bass... the drums (not the band the drums, I mean the percussion section. Literally. The. Drums).
Tracks to download if you want convincing:
Searching
Spinnin'
Live and Learn
Wheels in Motion
Live, she was funny. I laughed out loud (if i ever use LOL hurt me) doesn't happen often (or maybe I just don't notice). Performing as a three piece, Speech, drums and double-bass. Technically brilliant. Audbily mezmerising. Left me wanting more.
Now, me being me, and my memory being what it was at the time, and all the things that meant i couldn't remember her name
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