SONG OF THE DAY, NPR - British singer Gemma Ray specializes in playful but smoky rock balladry that brings to mind the work of Phil Spector, Dusty Springfield and even the slipperier likes of Tom Waits and PJ Harvey. Without sounding overwrought or arch on her new album — titled Light Out, Zoltar! — Ray finds a winning way to warmly blend a lot of disparate pop styles.
One of the disc's most dramatic tracks, the plaintively sultry "Snuck a Peek" finds Ray's husky vocals set to an agile string section, quivering guitar effects and crystalline vibraphone, in a prettily askew arrangement that ebbs and flows sensuously behind every vocal move. The words distill despair into a stylish package: "You open your eyes into nothing now / You open up those arms and no one'll come / No one'll come running to you," she purrs, as if wandering through a bleak yet beautiful nightmare.
"Snuck a Peek" closes with swirling strings as a last repetition of the chorus glides into staggered layers of overdubbed voices that coo, "I snuck a peek, I snuck a peek, I snuck a peek." As her words fade out, she seems to drift over the strings as they spiral down to the center of the earth.
THE SUN – Wonderful..Gemma Ray weaves an entrancing tapestry of soul, blues and pop, full of dark themes and late-night confessions, all presented in a sultry, seductive voice
MOJO – Disarming..swooning...with noir-ish hints of Lee Hazlewood’s unearthly country-rock. Gemma Ray sits midway between Nina Simone and Isobel Campbell and is the better for it
NME – A brilliantly brooding prospect. Like a grittier Loretta Lynn, she’s from the wrong side of the tracks
CLASH - Startlingly good
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