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Recommended by us on 11th June 2010
...according to our Brian on Fri 11 Jun, 2010.
Allo Darlin' is ex pat Aussie Elizabeth Morris and various cohorts who conspire to produce honest-to-goodness rattly twee guitar pop & atmospheric indie that succeeds on many levels. After the daft smasheroonie 'Henry Rollins Don't Dance', I wasn't expecting such a well rounded album from these peeps, more a shambling whimsical novelty hit 'n' miss affair. But the loose, exitable & naive songcraft displayed here screams fun, her perky ukelele playing also adds an extra endearing dimension to many songs There's certainly a strong Heavenly/Aislers Set vibe to these songs, Morris's earthy voice is very reminiscent of those classic 80s/90s tweepop gems and the tunes have tons of familiar, comforting hooks throughout to maintain your initial interest. Quality stuff!
Allo Darlin' is the music of Australian-born, London-based songwriter Elizabeth Morris and runs the spectrum from joyous, breezy, punky, jump-around pop with fabulous harmonies to sparse ukulele and steel guitar heartbreakers. Elizabeth moved to London in 2005 and, inspired to write songs by her purchase of a ukulele from the famous Duke of Uke shop in Brick Lane, began to make music. A little later Elizabeth hooked up with Paul Rains (guitar), Bill Botting (bass) and Michael Collins (drums) and, augmented for one song by Terry Edwards of Tindersticks/Gallon Drunk fame on trumpet and sax, cut a single, “Henry Rollins Don't Dance”, released in Summer 2009 on the cult WeePOP label. Much to their surprise, “Henry Rollins” started getting airplay on BBC Radio 1, 6 Music, XFM and the like, and glowing reviews in places such as the Metro, The Fly and The Guardian, the latter calling it "the best indiepop song for years". Now signed to Fortuna POP!, home of 2009’s biggest indie success story The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, they recorded their debut album at Soup Studios (The Wave Pictures, Let’s Wrestle) below the Duke of Uke. The first single “The Polaroid Song” was named by Drowned In Sound as one of the 50 best singles of 2009 while the latest single "Dreaming" was voted Record of the Week by Jarvis Cocker, Peter Hook and DJ Huw Stephens on Steve Lamacq's BBC 6music Roundtable, beating Kate Nash, The Radio Dept and MGMT. It was also Record Of The Week on Nemone's BBC 6music show. In their brief lifetime Allo Darlin’ have been interviewed (twice) by Steve Lamacq on BBC 6Music and also recorded a live session for John Kennedy on XFM. They’ve played Indietracks Festival, toured in Sweden and Germany, and appeared at the prestigious Sŵn Festival in Cardiff promoted by BBC Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens. In March of this year they headed out on their first major UK tour as support to The School, followed by a trip to SXSW festival in Austin, Texas.
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