Produced and co-written by Ben Hillier, who was at the helm for her debut album, the Nick Cave influenced Love Yer Dum and Mad, Tyneside lass Nadine Shah has decided to ditch the piano in favour of the guitar as her favoured writing tool, in fashioning an album that, while displaying the same dark muscularity and disarming honesty of its predecessor, is a dirtier, rawer, and yet more musical beast. Recorded mostly live in the studio (you can hear the hum of the amps, here and there), bar the vocals, the minimalist set up of guitar (Nick Webb and Shah), bass (courtesy of I Am Kloot's Pete Jobson) and drums is all that is needed to service the wonderfully rich and soulful voice of Shah, who's shares a few similarities with that other modern day indie-siren, Anna Calvi.

 
Fast Food has a brooding grandeur throughout, her deep and velvety tones belying her youthfulness, as well as her mixed Norwegian (mother) and Pakistani (father) heritage. Add the fact that she has a strong Geordie accent, and it becomes clear that her voice is a thing of rare soul and sound.
 
Nick Cave is still an inspiration on Fast Food, but there are also additional post-punk flavours – Siouxie & The Banshees, PiL, The Cure – plus a scorched desert blues ambience, mainly courtesy of some tasty reverbed guitar throughout, plus a hint or two of Eastern-vibed Velvet Underground, particularly on the chugging lead track Fast Food, a song that brings all the aforementioned influences and inspirations together in conspiring to create a semi-garage meets psyche meets post-punk meets steampunk blend. The VU are again subtly re-imagined via hypnotising Venus In Furs style guitar on lead single Stealing Cars. 'It's criminal, I'm stealing cars in my dreams' drawls Shah, in a manner that Marlene Dietrich might be proud of.
 
On Fool, Shah and Hillier continue to excavate the still beating body of post-punk, plus a touch of Peter Hook bass circa 1979, as the incessant ringing guitar provides a simple but effective backdrop for Shah to do a more laid-back and nightclub cabaret version of Siouxie Sioux. And like Fast Food, the hooks are there, the song approaching something akin to pop-friendly, despite the bittersweet sound, and the biting lyrics: 'Tattoed pretence upon your skin, so everyone will know it' is a particularly fine line, Shah also namechecking Kerouac and Cave in this self-deprecating song.
 
Shah's voice is to the fore throughout Fast Food, but unfortunately, as on songs such as Divided, some of the lyrics are hard to make out, the stylistic affectations getting in the way of clarity; an unfortunate modern trait. You know, if we had this much trouble understanding each other in everyday conversation, we'd all get a bit agitated and frustrated. It's a shame because Shah is an excellent lyricist, and literary to boot, featuring many reflections upon short lived, intense and complicated relationships. Such as on the wilfully repetitive Nothing Else To Do – which is as clear as a bell – 'and there was nothing else to do but fall in love' is the repeated refrain – a germ of an idea presented as a fully formed song, the multi-tracked vocal and simple guitar arpeggios allied to the repetitive sentiments that depict a kind of self-perpetuating madness, before unexpected brass comes in, following the melody line of the vocal, and some unhinged acoustic guitar, high in the mix, all adding to an unsettling atmosphere. Meanwhile, Matador is sparser, distorted, and highly atmospheric, with a simple melody embedded within. The sound of a metronome bookends the song, which is apparently about the most beautiful parts of a person. It's up to you decide what they may be…
 
Nestled towards the end of Fast Food is album highlight, The Gin One, featuring an agreeably deep and brooding rhythm section, tracked by a two-note guitar line, providing the perfect foil for Shah's uber-sultry tones to enrapture.
 
On the surface Fast Food sounds sparse and minimalist, but the production is deep and enveloping, with some subtle effects, reverb and echo, almost imperceptibly so, but certainly playing to the sub-conscious. But, purposefully or otherwise, it's the 'live feel' that engages the senses, as if Shah & co were on stage, right in front of you; unadorned, naked and true.
Jeff Hemmings