KATIE VON SCHLEICHER

Shitty Hits 8/10

For her first full-length, Von Schleicher’s harnessed the potential of 2015’s Bleaks ploitation and essayed a set of coolly droll songs that drag the artisan songcraft of the 1970s into the present. She’s a subtle writer, with an ear for seductive arrangement, the better to bring her pop melodies to the fore. Often, she comes across as heir to songwriters such as Todd Rundgren and Randy Newman – raising a jaded, critical eye to the world, Von Schleicher’s dissections of the way humans treat each other and then justify their behaviours to themselves, are as compelling as they are unforgiving.