Kate Nash - Caroline's A Victim/Birds (Moshi Moshi)
UK release date: 5 February 2007
Young, feisty, female singer/songwriter, comes from London, big following on MySpace... yes, it's time already to start spotting "this year's Lily Allen". Kate Nash has had a bit of a buzz building around for a while now due to Ms Allen's patronage, and this release on Moshi Moshi is her first official single.
Caroline's A Victim is a bizarre choice for a debut single as it's completely unrepresentative of the rest of Nash's canon. Whereas the majority of her songs are bittersweet acoustic tunes, Caroline's A Victim is a blast of monotonous, distorted electro-rock with some harsh and heavy drums. It's very likely you'll hate it the first few times you'll hear it, but it becomes oddly compelling.
Also included here is the heart-stoppingly beautiful Birds, a perfectly written description of the inarticulacy of young love. Caroline's A Victim may be the track that garners the most attention, but it's Birds that will make you fall in love with Ms Nash - and judging by the quality of the rest of her songs, it's a love affair that's likely to last a long time.