Eliza Doolittle

Useless fact # 1 – Eliza Doolittle is the granddaughter of Sylvia Young, Stage School owner responsible for Emma Bunton, the Appleton sisters, Leona Lewis, Amy Winehouse, Denise van Outen and Billie Piper.

Eliza’s debut eponymous album has just hit the streets, on the back of single success with ‘Skinny Genes’ and current single ‘Pack Up’. The comparisons with Lily Allen cannot be ignored as vocally they are very similar, however whereas Lily is more ‘street’ in her sound, Eliza has a more summery pseudo reggae lilt backing to her vocals on many tracks, or a more brass arrangement elsewhere.

The first thing that hits you after a couple of listens is that perhaps Eliza has over done the album by two or three tracks. It loses it’s uniqueness at times and has a feel of being ‘samey’. However, if you can cut through this, and perhaps miss out the fill there are some really strong tracks on here.

The aforementioned two singles are two of the stronger tracks on here, but there is plenty more where these came from. ‘Rollerblades’ is a more poppy sound from Eliza – again very bright and breezy; a future single perhaps?

‘Missing’ is a really catchy number that you’ll be humming for days afterwards. ‘Back To Front’ sees Eliza slow the pace down a little with a lyrically amusing track, with a clever twist to it. ‘A Smokey Room’ is a very smoky jazz number that really suits Eliza’s vocals equally as well as the poppier numbers. ‘Missing’ is a beautiful slow number with a real old fashioned musical feel which contrasts well with Eliza’s modern vocals. ‘Empty Hand’ is the closing track, and for me one of the strongest tracks on here. It has a real simplistic arrangement but showcases Eliza’s vocals perfectly.

I have listened to this 4 or 5 times now and gradually the best tracks are becoming clearer and gaining more individual identity. This album may not the finished article but does show that Eliza Doolittle is one talented lady – her Gran will be proud of her!