office Listening: Woman's Hour

Image:Woman's Hour 

Here at Skiddle, the office soundtrack remains as one of the few sacred things, becoming of particular importance when it comes to powering through the mid afternoon limbo when the caffeine comedown hits home and minutes turn into hours.

Whether we're bandying between the glistening noise of the XX or the sumptuous vocals of London Grammar's Hannah Reid, an album that resonates somewhere in between of the two, prevailing as some sort of medium, is Conversations, the debut album from Kendal four piece Woman's Hour (stream below on Spotify).

Interestingly the band garnered their moniker from the Radio 4 show of the same name, and the album is somewhat of a glamourised loungey affair, with Fiona Burgess' sultry vocal built up on layered synths.

It culminates into something that has potential to permeate the playlist of some sort of cultural city hub, or our office as a matter of fact, yet it still wouldn't look out of place in the living room whilst your Grandma's doing the ironing.

It's difficult to pinpoint where the album actually belongs, with tracks varying from dreamy 80's pop delights in 'In Stillness We Remain', through to the sluggish yearning synth present on 'Reflections' that's bound up in isolated guitar lines.

Essentially they sit  as an amalgamation of synthy pop and the relatively new entity of chill wave, but one thing that remains frequent is the band's ability to build up a track, lulling you along with dreamy ambivalence before Fiona Burgess wades in with a striking blow, sparking the track into life. 

The albums opener 'Unbroken Sequence' is representative of the whole thing in many ways, conveying "If I rest, break and resist, would it be better for you?" through Fiona's dazzling vocal hinged upon on subtle synth tapestry that remains fluent as you journey throughout.

It's shining moment aptly arrives from the track 'Conversations', a sunset drive kind of affair manned by the striving voice of Burgess, embellished with retro synth tones that continue into aspects of 'Her Ghost' - a close contestant - one of the albums many love centred stories progressively breaking into a sense of release, underpinned by the lyrics "I've got nothing to say to her ghost, hoping she'll fade away".  

We're sure that any future material from the band will pave the way to a more distinct crevice of the electro pop genre, but at present it's hard not to be drawn by the heartfelt glistening output strewn up in the blissful voice of their enchanting lead  singer.

When put in a live setting, where they undoubtedly belong, we're convinced it'll allow the band to lustre in the confines of an intimate setting, fortunately happening in the near future when they adorn Manchester's Deaf Institute on Saturday September 27th. You can get your tickets for that here.  

Like Woman's Hour? Be sure to check out the other live shows put on by promoter Now Wave.

Tickets are no longer available for this event