Katy Kirby

★★★★ Cool Dry Place KEELED SCALES. CD/DL/LP

Startling debut converts evangelical pop into fragmented indie rock.

It has taken years to create this album, but each song is perfectly realised. Katy Kirby had to rewire her Bible belt upbringing first, taking the influence of Christian worship music she heard as a child, and mixing it with overdriven pedals and percussive ambience to make a sound that is unique – like Michelle Shocked meets Katy Perry, fed through a sonic mincer. Recorded in Nashville with co-producer collaborators Logan Chung and Alberto Sewald, these songs veer from the gently analytical to the absurd. Traffic!, for instance, combines beatific church organ, Auto-Tune and plunging guitar in a wry, funny song about male privilege, while standout track Portals weaves a raw lyric of domestic upset with warped Moog chords, crooning melody, and sounds created with wine glasses, bowls and chains.