Release Date: 4/4/11

Released on: Lavaland Records

It's not often that upon looking at an album's tracklist, I skip past everything to one song, but that's exactly what happened upon receiving Eliza Newman's second solo album Pie In the Sky. The reason for this? Track 6 is called Star Wars Bar. Being familiar with Eliza's upbeat brand of melodic folkpop after reviewing her EP, my (geeky) mind thought that a ukelele-inspired rendition of the tune from the Mos Eisley cantina would be the greatest thing in existence. Unfortunately that wasn't the case, but the album is still pretty good without this.

Eliza is big in her native Iceland, with a number one single and four further top ten singles under her belt, and this album was called one of the albums of the year by Icelandic critics. She's perhaps best known for her song about the volcano Eyjafjallajökull (yes Spellcheck, that is right), which was featured on a video about the volcanic ash cloud on Al Jazeera TV.

The albums first song is Ukelele Song For You, which was the focus of the EP. Hearing it again is like running into an old school friend in the street, and it's promising that much of the album follows the buoyancy of this introduction, even if the lyrical content is slightly more introspective, of which Hopeless Case is a stunning example. It's impossible not to listen to this and come out the other side with at least a slightly warmer feeling inside yourself. Eliza is Kate Nash doped up on happy pills, with a proper singing voice that recalls the likes of Nico and Kate Bush.

Other highlights include Pie In The Sky which includes minimal synths that shake up the albums sound slightly, and the wonderfully fragile In The Beginning, and the aformentioned Star Wars Bar which is bittersweet yet joyful; like the best work of The Magic Numbers. It's hard to find fault with this album as all of the songs are of high quality, but naysayers might say that it's a bit samey. But it's still a very enjoyable listen, and a fine demonstration of Eliza's true talent.

8/10

Posted In Album Reviews, Apr 10 2011. Words - Paul