Cate Le Bon - Me Oh My

The Welsh keep a tight posse. Underestimated and overlooked, acts such as Cate Le Bon have been slowly coming up the outside for a while now. Her name may seem new and exciting, but the gallic siren has been kicking about with Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys for more than a couple of years.

Stirring guts and pricking ears, she caught the public’s eye back in 2007 supporting Rhys on his solo tour. The hugely productive SFA frontman got her on board for his 2008 Neon Neon project, using her as guest vocalist on the single ‘I Lust U’. In Rhys she must trust, for it is he who, on his much talked about label, Irony Bored, has chosen to put her debut record out.

And what an interesting record it is. Le Bon’s distinctive voice recalls Nico, with its capacity to reach incredibly low, almost masculine-like, notes. But unlike Nico, this voice can hit high too. On tracks such as ‘Hollow Trees House Hounds’ the majority of the song sees her voice at a permanent peak, always in tune.

There is no denying Le Bon’s wide ranging talent (we have been informed that aside from all her psyche-folk, she also has a riot grrrrl punk band), it’s merely a matter of whether or not ‘Me Oh My’ is the right kettle of fish for you. The record comprises of ten heavily freaked out folk songs, some of which work and some of which… not so much. Opening track ‘Me Oh My’, probably the best one to sum up the overall sound, is a real treat. With Le Bon’s haunting deep voiced lyrics, “Me oh my, my oh me, I fought the night and the night fought me”, the ensuing psyche out seems nothing but perfectly placed in a song that advocates the bizarre and the inexplicable.

Despite being able to list possible influences and similar sounding stars, Cate Le Bon is in her own league. She is different, and we get a feeling that there will be a lot more to expect from her in coming years.