Oooh good, yet another singer/songwriter from the BRIT School For Perfoming Arts. Because we need another Leona Lewis, or Adele, or Katie Melua don't we?
If that's your first reaction at looking at Polly Scattergood's CV, then you'd be forgiven. You'd also be missing out on a rather staggering talent, if this single is anything to go by. I Hate The Way is about as far from Leona or Katie's middle of the road, radio friendly warbling as you can imagine. Indeed, if Chris Moyles or Terry Wogan was to play this during the school run, there'd be an awful lot of distressed children being dropped off at the gates.
Sounding somewhere near to a nervous breakdown, Polly begins by whispering her lyrics over a barely audible piano, before the song slowly but surely builds up to an almighty crescendo. The lyrics are equally disquieting, documenting Polly's emotional instability and penchant of going to bed with unsuitable men ("He said not all men are bad, and I am not like your dad, and I will hold you even though you're slightly mad").
File next to Tori Amos, Amanda Palmer and Regina Spektor, for Scattergood has the potential to be as good as any of them. An astonishing single, and a major new talent to watch out for in 2009.
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