Wash U Clean

Album Review

Beth Thornley's third album has buoyant, eclectic pop/rock songs that don't have all that much in common with each other besides the presence of her slightly breathy, eager-sounding vocals. The opening title track is typical in its combination of elements that sound disparate on paper but work well enough in practice, as beat-heavy almost hipster-rapping verses alternate with bittersweet choruses, jovial jazzy brass band riffs occasionally entering for punctuation. Also coming into play are catchy melodies on the order of 1970s Paul McCartney or ELO (on "Still Can't Hide"), a hint of the ironic bounciness of composers like Randy Newman ("A to Z"), and a frequent mix of a confessional singer/songwriter sensibility with a more urgent pop drive than most such artists are wont to employ. There are occasional more sedate moods with introspective musings in a ballad-like form, such as "What the Heart Wants." Like many singer/songwriters, her concerns are romantic uncertainties and vulnerabilities, but expressed here in language fresher than the norm, if fairly allusively vague at many points.