Secrets and Lies
Bertie Blackman
(Forum 5 / MGM)
The annals of music journalism are cluttered with shopworn platitudes about musicians ‘reinventing their sonic palette’, but they’re rarely as apt as in the case of Sydney songstress Bertie Blackman – and not just because she comes from a family of painters. This is clearly an artist who isn’t afraid to try out some new shades and textures.
Consider the softer edges of her brushwork on her acoustic indie-folk debut, 2004’s portrait of the artist as a young woman
Headway – and compare it to the dollops and splatters of grungy rock as she transformed into the self-proclaimed fast bitch of 2006’s
Black. This is the kind of evolution some acts don’t manage in entire careers, but Blackman goes even further on her third album,
Secrets and Lies, employing a much grander and more expansive canvas that enters a darker realm of electronica and synthetic sounds.
You can tell a lot from someone’s hired hands. Blackman enlisted producer Lee Groves, who we know from his associations with Goldfrapp and Depeche Mode; producer Francois Tétaz, Wally de Backer’s backseat driver for
Like Drawing Blood; and Dave Bascombe (Tears For Fears, Royksopp) for mixing. There’s even an electronica pedigree to the eighties-throwback album cover, conjured up by Presets cover artist Jonathan Zawada.
The result is a blend of swirling strings and pulsating beats that occasionally evoke a Harry Gregson-Williams theme (album opener ‘Sky is Falling’), industrial tinged howls (‘Thump’), and fashionable dancefloor synth to appease the most hardened clubbers (‘Byrds of Prey’). First single ‘Heart’ strikes me as an acquired taste, with its giddy chorus and Bono-style soliloquy (I found myself expecting her to start chanting, “Outside, it’s America”), but there’s such a wealth of material to enjoy here. What makes
Secrets and Lies so rich is that, as well as embracing these new sounds, Blackman is still capable of strapping on a guitar and pulling off the driving rhythms of ‘Shout Out’, a track which would make her
pals in Something For Kate proud.
The unifying factor, of course, is her gorgeous and versatile vocals. Blackman has the kind of natural voice that can go from 0 to 80 in a flash and sounds at ease whether she’s channelling Joni Mitchell or Bjork. It’s in its finest form yet on
Secrets and Lies.
Blackman is embarking on a national tour in support of the album in July. If you’re interested in seeing a musician who is constantly looking for new colours in her paintbox – as more artists should aspire to do – definitely check her out.
Darryn King