Erica is a dear friend and as many of you will know she’s also the Fiddle player with The Wonder Stuff. This is her 3rd solo album and the first she’d released on vinyl which is why the other two aren’t here. The music Erica makes is very different from that of The Wonder Stuff. I wouldn’t know what to describe it as. It has something of the Gary Numan/Depeche Mode synth-rock about it but also Marilyn Manson and Type O Negative harder rock that was her teenage years. I guess the best way to describe it is as she herself does, Art Rock, think Roxy Music’s “In Every Dream Home A Heartache” (a song she recently covered) or some of Eno’s earlier songs but in a more contemporary setting and you’re not far off.

The music can be stark and (I can finally use this word because thanx to Erica I think I understand it) ethereal, in a similar vein to the Cocteau Twins but more electronic. The recent single “Build Me A Ship” is a perfect example. The other song that sticks out, particularly after experiencing it live recently and hearing Erica dedicate it to her Niece, is “Making Friends With An Alien” in which I hear something of Kraftwerk. It’s also worth pointing out that the song “I Know” features contribution from the legend that is Jah Wobble.

I’ll admit that, for me, what Erica does isn’t at times easy to listen to and that it has taken me a long time to “get” what she is doing.  But sometimes you need music that makes you think, that takes time to reveal itself to you and this album certainly does that.

Build Me A Ship - https://youtu.be/CApIvuoKtDo?si=4eYucuMM4VQG_Veg