sing for your supper

Where the hell did this came from? Is this the same Cathy Davey whose debut album, 2004’s uneven and dull “Something Ilk”, received plenty of accolades, but by no means warranted a ticker-tape parade? Is this the same girl with a guitar who always seemed to fit into niches, but never seemed capable of carving out one of her own? Did I put the right CD in the player?Yes, yes and, well, yes. “Tales of Silversleeve” is the album of the season which will leave you breathless and not just at the panache and dash employed to merrily pack those preconceptions off to Coventry.Here’s a bright, bold and breezy rush of imagination, creativity and sheer glorious sounds, an album of sequins, sparkles and swagger. There are 11 songs here which are utterly – utterly – in love with the possibilities which occur in that atomic pop moment when everything is destined to go boom, if you know the right buttons to push.And Davey has that knowledge. Sure, her accomplice, onetime Sneaker Pimp Liam Howe, helps clear the lines, but there’s no over-priced journeyman producer here trying to turn the Dubliner into his latest puppet on a string. Every note you can hear sounds as it’s coming from the heart – and there are even a few which sound like they’re coming from the soul too.Just listen to the nagging groove propelling “Moving”, for instance. The pitch is so simple, so obvious, so daftly perfect, that you wonder just why no-one thought of it before. The track is no fluke either because it is preceded by three others and followed by another one which all bear the hallmarks of greatness. That’s five killer songs in a row, including the showstealing “Reuben” and the slinky “Mr Kill” (both of which Robyn and Kylie would happily kill for), before Davey pauses for a cup of tea and a biscuit.