I recently discovered an online magazine called Wears The Trousers, a site dedicated to promoting female musicians and artist. They seem to have a talent for finding all types of music and artists that you’ve never heard of, as well as a few that you might have heard about. They are good source for discovering new music. After reading an excellent review on Nerina Pallot latest album, Year of the Wolf, I decided to order it.

Having never heard of her before, I was delightfully surprised how enjoyable and good this album is. I’m always on the lookout for good music. Be it new or old, finding new music is important to me. I enjoy music a lot, it is a constant part of my life, be it listening at home, in the car, at work, out running, or mountain biking, I always have my music on. While I have amassed a decent music collection in the hundreds of CDs filling my home I still feel like there is a tremendous amount of great music to discover and enjoy. Nerina Pallot’s Year of the Wolf is one of those new albums that I’ve discovered and enjoying.

Year of the Wolf is not Nerina’s first album, she appears to be pretty well-known and has a few albums under her belt. However this is the first time I’ve heard about her and the album has left a strong impression on me as I keep going back to it regularly.

It’s easily one of the best albums I’ve heard for 2011.

The album has a wonderful collection of songs that includes a great blend of catchy up tempo songs with melodic hooks and tight pop rhythms in songs like Put Your Hands Up, Turn Me On Again, Butterfly, I Think, and I Do Not Want What I Do Not Have. These songs will get stuck in your head and make you want to listen to them again and again. Then she mixes in a few mellow yet equally catchy songs like All Bets Are Off, This Will Be Our Year, and Will You Still Love Me. Finishing off the album Nerina strips the last two songs down to simple yet slower heartfelt songs, Grace a classic acoustic melody that reminds me of Joni Mitchell, then on History Boys she strips it down to just a piano and her signing, something that is reminiscent of Sarah McLaughlin’s earlier albums.

The only one negative thing I have to say is on the song Butterfly, which starts out as a great song, but it has no ending, its one of those songs that just fades down the volume. Seems like its done in mid song as it’s just building up too. I really don’t understand why people do this, just write a proper ending to a song, don’t take the cheap way out and fade down the volume while still singing the song. I’ve always felt that is a cheap and lame way to end songs.

You can hear Nerina’s relaxed maturity in the song writing and music, while at the same time you can tell she’s clearly having fun in the songs. Every song is well thought out with good music and writing, top it off with some great production and it makes for a beautiful collection of songs that stick with you. At times you can hear a lot of jazzy 70’s style songs that have a slight reminiscent of Al Green’s soulful style, all with a Steely Dan style studio production quality. The whole album comes together leaving you feeling soulful and happy.

Nerina Pallot Year of the Wolf is easily in my top 10 albums for 2011.

Tracklist

1. Put Your Hands Up
2. Turn Me on Again
3. All Bets Are Off
4. If I Lost You Now
5. Butterfly
6. This Will Be Our Year
7. I Think
8. Will You Still Love Me
9. I Do Not Want What I Do Not Have
10. Grace
11. History Boys

Video: Put Your Hands Up

Resources

• Nerina Pallot Official Site
• Nerina Pallot: Year of the Wolf on Amazon
• Nerina Pallot on Facebook
• Nerina Pallot on last.fm
• Nerina Pallot on tumblr
• Nerina Pallot on Wikipedia
• Wears The Trousers Magazine, for a better breakdown of songs on Year of the Wolf, read their review.

Have you heard this album yet? What are your thoughts on it? Please feel free to share and thanks for reading.