Holly Macve ★★★ Not The Girl MODERN SKY. CD/DL/LP

Countrified moodiness on second LP by South Coastbased singer-songwriter.

Contemplating the death of her father on fifth track Daddy’s Gone, Brightondwelling, Irish-born Holly Macve sings “…never loved me like he should have, I never loved him like I could have.” Frankly recounting the emotional gymnastics resulting from loss, the song is musically in keeping with the album’s downer country vibe up to this point. However, after three minutes Daddy’s Gone shifts into a section resonant of the Velvet’s Heroin. Thereafter, Macve’s second album edges towards the early solo work of Mark Lanegan with the epic Sweet Marie and, on pulsating Who Am I?, merges grunge with country. Guest guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones and string arranger Fiona Brice add subtle texture to these brooding songs. More widescreen than its largely bare-bones predecessor Golden Eagle, the stately

Not The Girl refracts Mazzy Star through a Bakersfield lens. Kieron Tyler