Lenka - Lenka [Album]

Epic / Sony Music

September 5, 2009, 08:35 AM

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Listening to Lenka's self titled debut album without any preconceptions, on opening track 'The Show', Lenka comes across sounding like a 12-year-old girl doing a straight, non-ironic karaoke cover of Regina Spektor. Not that I can imagine many people attempting and actually pulling off karaoke covers of Regina. I subjected Lenka's self-titled album to a pretty harsh test, listening straight through and loud on the car stereo on what would have otherwise been a lovely journey at 7.30 one morning. It really grated. The surprising thing was that by the time I got through it a second time later that day, I didn't mind it quite as much but it was still a chore.

Lenka is actually nowhere near as young as that sweet little girl voice would suggest. In fact she's a fully fledged grown-up despite the back cover of the CD which pictures her chewing on a piece of candy. The first single 'The Show' came over as an indigestible sugar rush at seven in the morning and believe it or not was picked up by Old Navy for some world-wide advertisement campaign . Okay fair enough, I'm probably just not Lenka's target audience on this occasion but I did give it a go anyway and try to draw some middle ground.

I think half the trouble is the production. It's an extremely highly polished piece of pop, all jangly vocal overdubs and bright shiny things being shaken against an oompah background. We are supposed to give a rating for production, and I really have to mark it down because, despite the high values, it's just wrong in this context. This is epitomized on the second track 'Bring Me Down' and persists right the way through the album. The third track 'Skipalong' is all breathy vocals about being like a sugar bomb and wouldn't it be lovely if we just, err, skip along. So the problems are deeper than inititally though and it's not just the production, it's the songwriting I'm having trouble with as well. 'Skipalong' like eight of the 11 on the album has the credit down as Lenka co-writing with a variety of people. The three remaining songs are credited just to her. At least there it has some authenticity and quite frankly it's a surprise to find it's not pop factory.

'Anything I'm Not', one of the solo written tracks, is all about how Lenka will never be tall. It's just too obvious, like a teenager's diary, and that's doing discredit to teenagers. For heavens sake woman, you're in your 30s! I suppose growing up as a child actor and hosting a show called Cheez on Australian TV can't be much of a help to anyone. The thing is this is not her first recorded music. I was challenged and curious enough to listen to some of Lenka's previous stuff with well-respected Australian outfit Decoder Ring, and there I found her voice worked just great in a setting not dissimilar to the Postal Service.

So I'm not going to labour the point. The cheesy pop production points too harshly at risible writing which is a real pity now that I know what Lenka might have been capable of.

I feel cheated.

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