EP Review: Kate Nash – Have Faith With Kate Nash
2 min read
It’s Christmas and Kate Nash’s gift to the world is a bite-sized EP entitled Have Faith With Kate Nash. This is an interesting collection of three original songs and two traditionals that, like Christmas, has its ups and downs.
The EP kicks off with I Hate You This Christmas. The chorus pretty much explains the theme of the song: “It’s Christmas once again but you’re fucking one of my friends,” sings Nash in such a blasé tone that it’s quite funny, in a good way. There’s a lot more feeling in the verses though, which is good as feeling is something that missing at several points on this at times rather detached EP.
The two traditional songs are Silent Night and Auld Lang Syne. Silent Night is a dreamy, minimalistic number with only Nash’s vocals and an acoustic guitar. Auld Lang Syne is solemn and haunting and features Nash harmonising with herself via layered vocals to a very pleasing effect.
The Tuts’ Christmas Is In The Air is the low point of the EP. It attempts to transition from slow, swaying verses to a fast punk-rock chorus and in this attempt the cohesion of the song is completely lost. It sounds as though someone has badly spliced two perfectly decent songs together resulting in a jolting mess.
Faith, which Nash released last year for Rookie magazine, is a nice song with gorgeous harmonies, although the harmonies do distract from the lyrics so I had to listen a couple of times to get the subtleties of the story.
One particularly striking feature of this EP is Nash’s cockney accent how it changes up the songs, with surprising sounds that one wouldn’t expect. For example, she pronounces candy cane “candy can.” While on the topic of Nash’s vocals, it must be said that they are not technically dazzling, however she does possess a certain magnetic charisma that pulls you through songs like Silent Night (a classic but certainly potentially boring song) without them ever feeling dull.
Would I be happy to receive this EP as a Christmas gift? I think I would, and I’m sure Nash’s fans will love and treasure this slice of festive goodness.
