In the attic presumably in the season before summer, Springtime Carnivore’s Greta Morgan discovered a dusty old piano belonging to a family member of a past generation; along with it she appears to have consumed its precedent spirit. This can be said about lead single; the sugary-sweetName on a Matchbook, a track that contains the best whistling since Peter Bjorn and John’s Young Folks. 

 

Her mono nostalgic voice appears to have disimprisoned from a cobwebbed gramophone sounding like it belongs to The Shangri Las. It is particularly muffled aside the keyboards and sixties percussion of Collectors, as well as the aforementioned single and assisting the upbeat heavier guitar on Sun Went Black. This sixties vibe worked incredibly in the charming debut from Cults and the career of El Perro del Mar. Like her oxymoron name, this just works together.

 

However, in Foxtrot Treat her voice is suddenly much clearer. Despite the track still maintaining a sixties harmony, it disappointingly rejects the old production charm that attracted preliminary attention. Yet it still remains enjoyable and we do get to appreciate her vocal range much further, exemplified by the acoustic ballad Other Side of Boundary, where voice becomes as flexible as her pre-music acrobatics. It also contains some incredible lyrics including: “I’m the cruel joke, in your horoscope but your constellation is clear.”

 

It is an album of two halves, you could say, with parts of it a bit more modern and influenced by current inspirations. In the head-bopping Keep Confessing, her voice turns slighter deeper into Danielle Haim territory, although the electronic organ remains a thread in the bygone sound. In the absorbing Last One To Know, her voice initially sounds like Nina Persson but has a hint of Karen O when it hits an echoey reverb and even though the music has dream pop friendliness with drum machines and keyboards, there is sudden drops in key changes that add an uneasy element of uncertainty.

 

This is followed by five more tracks including a brief return to the old voice in Creature Feature before curtaining with simplistically beautiful airy keyboard solos in Find A New Game along with a modern influence in Low Clouds, which is a clever cover of Passenger’s Let Her Go. It illustrates much potential indicating that maybe one day she will have guys fainting over her like in the debut music video. MTH

 

Highlights: Name on A Matchbook and Last One To Know

Proposed quote: “Dazzling debut with sixties spirit and cheerfulness.”