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Album: Cocknbullkid, Adulthood (Moshi Moshi/Island)

Andy Gill
Friday 20 May 2011 00:00 BST
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In all the year-end fuss about Jessie J, Clare Maguire, etc, Anita Blay, aka CocknBullKid, seems to have been largely overlooked – a criminal oversight, as her debut Adulthood suggests she may be the most idiosyncratically talented young British artist of her era.

Steering clear of the tired dubstep cliches with which her peers get saddled, she employs bright pop melodies like those of "Asthma Attack" and "Distractions", daringly minimal arrangements and full-on epic orchestrations like the cello and tom-tom tattoo of "Dumb", as the varied backdrops to her sharply-observed reflections on growing up. "I don't want to regret a life that hasn't happened yet," she muses wisely in "Yellow", elsewhere acknowledging the value of misery in forming character. Smart as a whip, and the most engaging of singers.

DOWNLOAD THIS Adulthood; Dumb; Distractions; Asthma Attack

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