SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: ALISON MOYET – KEY

ALISON MOYET
KEY
COOKING VINYL

Since Yazoo called it a day in 1983, following the release of two landmark and influential albums, Alison Moyet embarked on a solo career that would change everyone’s view of her. Although she was in a synth-pop band, in her heart, Moyet was always a blues singer. It may have taken her a few albums to establish herself in this way, but she did so successfully. Since her debut album, Alf in 1984, Moyet has recorded eight studio albums (Key is her tenth album) and throughout all of them, she established herself as a brilliant vocalist, songwriter, and interpreter of songs.

With Key, Moyet revisits her past and her solo catalogue and arranges them very differently from the original versions. “All Cried Out” is a great example. The pop song, once produced with the big 1980s sounds, is now a stripped, bluesy song that allows Moyet to explore the emotion of it. It demonstrates just how brilliant she is as a vocalist. The song sounds like it always should have sounded. While I am a fan of the original, the rawness of the new version is just beyond words. That is the beauty of Key. Moyet is reinterpreting these songs and giving them a whole new life.

Although she remakes her big hits (“Love Resurrection”, “Is This Love”, and “This House”), she also dips into the deeper cuts of her albums. Songs such as “My Best Day”, a Lightning Seeds song that Moyet sang on, harken back to her synth-pop days. It is a brilliant addition to the album. Over the years, although she moved away from synth-pop, Moyet has returned to that sound. Although it is somewhat more sparse than the 1980s, she seems comfortable with the genre again. Her last album, Other, was certainly quite techno at times. The Minutes (2013) really marked her return to the world of synth-pop and techno, with her new version of “Filigree” (from The Minutes) which is much more sparse and acoustic with a piano. It strips away the techno/dance of the original and here it is a beautiful melodic piece.

Sean McGhee, who produced the album, also co-wrote one of the two new songs for this collection. The smoldering “Such Small Ale” is a brilliant song, once again showcasing Moyet’s unique style of phrasing, while “The Impervious Me” is pure pop and quite a wonderful song. Moyet is a brilliant writer and with each release she continues to grow and develop.

Key is a fantastic album and something that is familiar and at the same time quite different. Key provides Moyet with the opportunity to revisit her songs and bring them to a new audience. This is not a ‘best of’ or ‘greatest hits’ but rather a whole new album. Quite often, remakes are like live albums and are just new performances of classic songs, but not Key. This is complete, cohesive, and consistent. At times, one can even forget the originals and enjoy this as a new album from Moyet.

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