Polly Scattergood – The Walpole, London 27/09/08

29 September 2008, 13:00 | Written by Simon Leak

(Live)

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Polly Scattergood. All photographs by Simon Leak.

Tonight Polly Scattergood is playing at one of these wristband events that seem to take place every week, where you get access to several venues over the course of an evening. The event is called Nail the Cross and the venue is The Walpole. It is virtually empty. On a Saturday night. In London. Which is a shame as it’s actually a nice little venue with friendly staff. On the plus side we are able to secure seats the bar. On a Saturday night. In London. The rest of the audience appears to made up of a few friends of other artists playing tonight and a couple of groups having a meal.

Ms Scattergood’s myspace page cites Bjork as an influence and this can be clearly heard in her singing style that can fluctuate between a fragile half whisper to powerfully hitting the big notes. Although a Brit School graduate she is more Kate Bush than Kate Nash and that has to be a good thing, right? ‘I Hate the Way’ is like a dark fairy tale, with the singer cast as Little Red Riding Hood.

There is also a hint of Jarvis Cocker in ‘Number 24′, where she paints a portrait of life in a bedsit. “So I bite my nails and paint my mouth / pretend like life’s so fucking sickly sweet/ you’ve got these bitter eyes / you’ve got these rotting teeth”. Here casual diners can be seen almost visibly choking on their tagliatelle at Polly Scatological’s lyrics. Sensing this might not be to everyone’s cup of sambucca she announces that she’s going to “lighten the mood up a bit”.

She closes the set with ‘Nitrogen Pink’ a rousing, anthemic, radio friendly tune that hints at how Polly could reach a wider audience without diluting that individuality that makes her interesting. It’s a shame that so few people were here see her show but hopefully wider acclaim is not too far away.

mp3:> Polly Scattergood: ‘Nitrogen Pink’