Late Transmissions is a new group that reunites David Balfe (Teardrop Explodes, Zoo & Food Records company executive) with David Hughes (Dalek I Love You, Film and TV Soundtracks producer) with torch singer Joanna Brown, who adopted the name Eve Quartermain. They release an album `The Heart Wants What It Wants` which is a thinly veiled concept album of a talented lady arriving in the big city dreaming of fame and fortune and how it transpires. The title is attributed to American poet Emily Dickinson in 1862 (“The Heart wants what it wants – or else it does not care”) and later popularized by Woody Allen to describe the lack of logic in love.
The album opens with `Avenging Angel` with drum rolls and husky vocals that bursts into life about a third of the way through and becomes more late nite jazzy. A tale of someone who appears to be a femme fatale, mysterious, seductive, but most of all dangerous. There`s a kind of Randell and Hopkirk deceased tv theme music intro to title track `The Heart Wants What It Wants` before Eve takes control and leads us through a sad story of deception where her emotions take over as her voice expands and soars in a manner that Shirley Bassey in her prime would be envious of.
`Lightning Never Strikes Twice` is a mix of trip-hop with straight up piano tones and some occasional orchestration. A downpour of rain and the roar of traffic signals the start of `I Ruin Everything` a quite reflective musing on the narrator who has the talent of managing to destroy what we assume is relationships although this is never made quite clear but seductively hinted at.
There`s a delightful uneasy edgy vibe to `A Little Drop of Poison` which is fairly dreamy although it appears to be a dark tale of potential murder. We have another trippy ambience to `I’m Done With London` which may well be a grim look at a side of life that many young ladies end up enduring when arriving in the capitol city expecting the streets to be paved with gold.
`He’s an Unexploded Bomb` exudes vulnerability with an underlying strength beneath which mirrors the theme of this number about surviving domestic violence. We have an almost electronic trip hop texture to `At The Starlight Lounge` where Eve`s vocals have a kind of exasperation that`s similar to the situation the narrator experiences with demands for more than just singing in this sleazy club.
`The Kiss That Kills` feels quite ominous as differing signals are misinterpreted on this almost James Bond like cinematic submission. The questioning `What Went Wrong?` showcases the expansive range of Eve`s vocals on this heartbreaking realisation of a doomed relationship.
The final cut `She Finds Love Wherever She Can` has what may well be a harpsicord creating an elaborate baroque undertone to this meditative reflection on where the narrator is yearning for her lost youth and desiring a more glamorous, more dazzling, more romantic life.
Although this was an oblique tale of shattered hopes and dreams, there was so much to enjoy musically and the star here is the stunning voice that exudes from Eve Quartermain (Joanna Brown) a mixture of the best of Dusty Springfield, Shirley Bassey and Edith Piaf. A terrific discovery and somebody who deserves the recognition this fascinating album should bring.
One word sums this release up and that is Stunning!!!
Rating 9/10
