Catherine A.D. - Communion

Chances are that when your own brand of ‘gothspel’ is compared to PJ Harvey and you have a similar edgy image to boot, you’re going to be quite the exciting character. Alas it’s not meant to be for London’s Catherine Anne Davis.

Trickling pianos and melancholy strings repeat throughout the majority of ‘Communion’’s seven tracks (notably ‘Over And Over,’ ‘Heart Wants To Be A Hammer’ and ‘Going Wrong’) eventually becoming nothing else but passing background music. Even the ‘mastered’ version of ‘Waiting To Breathe’ is hardly different from its demo on EP ‘Carry Your Heart.’ So by the time her cover of Lady Gaga’s ‘Telephone’ arrives, all surprise and excitement has already been sapped out due to the generic nature of previous tracks. The only exception is the Jens Lekman-ish ‘Yeats Is On Mine.’ A sombre piano delicately sweeps alongside a birdlike flute and Davis’ voice reaches the same gut-wrenching height as Regina Spektor, before finally delivering on her promised emotion (“Everybody breaks, everybody takes from me”).

If it’s this repetitive over the course of a short EP though, a full album might just put you to sleep.