HATTIE COOKE
HATTIE COOKE
Debut album
"Hattie Cooke’s a twenty something from Brighton who describes her method thus: "I magic up music in my bedroom." Mixing stripped back vocal songs with synth pop tunes, what ultimately ties together Hattie Cooke’s self-titled, self-produced debut is the tunes. The hooks on old school, lo-fi sounding VST drum and synth assisted bedroom pop anthems ‘Song 14’ or ‘Shut Your Mouth’ are pretty searing. It’s like Cooke’s scoring the somewhat less sexy and pragmatic Brighton set remake of Drive. In stark contrast, half the tracks on offer are straight up singer-songwriter jams, mostly comprising raw electric guitar plucks and vocals and little else. On whispy intimate closing track ‘Winter’, Cooke’s vocal delivery resembles the smokey tranquility of both Billie Holiday and Dick van Dyke’s chimney sweep from Mary Poppins, giving out sweet lines like, "To say goodbye never would still be too soon." Few singer-songwriters do so little to meet their two contrasting personas, and overall it has the advantage of spreading energy evenly throughout the album, never sounding samey." - The Quietus
Listen here.
- All tracks written, performed and produced by Hattie Cooke.
- Released October 2016 by Third Kind Records
- Originally released on limited edition cassette (sold out) and silver limited edition cassette (sold out)
- Re-released July 2022 on vinyl - available here
- Original cover design by Amy Hope
- Re-release cover design by Chris Standley
- Mastering by Nicholas Langley
"Hattie Cooke’s a twenty something from Brighton who describes her method thus: "I magic up music in my bedroom." Mixing stripped back vocal songs with synth pop tunes, what ultimately ties together Hattie Cooke’s self-titled, self-produced debut is the tunes. The hooks on old school, lo-fi sounding VST drum and synth assisted bedroom pop anthems ‘Song 14’ or ‘Shut Your Mouth’ are pretty searing. It’s like Cooke’s scoring the somewhat less sexy and pragmatic Brighton set remake of Drive. In stark contrast, half the tracks on offer are straight up singer-songwriter jams, mostly comprising raw electric guitar plucks and vocals and little else. On whispy intimate closing track ‘Winter’, Cooke’s vocal delivery resembles the smokey tranquility of both Billie Holiday and Dick van Dyke’s chimney sweep from Mary Poppins, giving out sweet lines like, "To say goodbye never would still be too soon." Few singer-songwriters do so little to meet their two contrasting personas, and overall it has the advantage of spreading energy evenly throughout the album, never sounding samey." - The Quietus
Listen here.
