This new track from idiosyncratic No Doubt songstress Gwen Stefani is a rather manic confection, the antithesis of her band's smooth super-hit Don't Speak. Co-written by former Non-Blonde Linda Perry, the song begins like a ballad, with a delicate piano intro, before launching into an out-and-out disco fest.
Squeals of "tick, tock, tick, tock" are accompanied by a flurry of handclaps and a clamour of keyboards. The resulting sound is somewhere between a Choirgirl Hotel period Tori Amos and the late '90s vibe of Garbage - though not really in the same league as either of those two.
Stefani's voice veers from being shrill to breathy and back again as she aggressively tells herself to "take a chance you stupid ho'!" - not exactly Oscar Wilde.
If this gets plenty of radio play - and there's no doubt that it will, if you'll pardon the pun - then I suspect it'll become one of those tracks that's irritatingly catchy - but on this initial listening, Ms Stefani's debut solo effort is just plain irritating.
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