Rose Elinor Dougall

I wasn’t really bothered one way or the other when broke up last year. Sure, I quite liked some of their songs, but the whole thing felt like an exercise in the novelty band. Entertaining enough, but something that would wear thin very quickly. So one album and then done worked well enough for me.

Then last year I received a song by , seemingly the first of them to launch an inevitable solo career. The song didn’t do much for me, coming across as sonic experimentation than anything resembling a pop record, but hey, who am I to judge? It meant I wasn’t overly excited to receive and listen to Start/Stop/Synchro though.

Thankfully though, the song seems to have found the happy middle ground between the kind of dream pop that now seems to hold Dougall’s attention and The Pipettes. Hell, the introduction even sounds like something that could have come from that band. It evolves into something more though, the sparse arrangement rising throughout, but with most of the song hanging on Dougall’s voice. Her voice is the stand-out here, easily moving from the strong to the wounded as the song requires.

I’m still not entirely sold on this project. I suspect some of her experimentation will turn out to be too much, too soon when put down in album form. From the evidence of Start/Stop/Synchro though, there is something valuable here in the voice. It just needs to find the right outlet.

Start/Stop/Synchro will be released on June 8 via Elefant Recordings. Vinyl only.

I’m well aware that ‘The Pipettes’ are still around and possibly recording, but honestly, if you’ve lost two thirds of your band members, you’re not the same band.