Beth Hirsch is ace. In the world of the blind, her voice – distilled from pure honeydew – would probably be top-shelf material. Nonetheless, the last time she bothered the charts was as long ago as 1998, when she provided vocals for Air’s 'All I Need'. A class song it was too - hazy, unflustered and knowing. It still sounds utterly faultless.
Five years on, enter Jakatta. A man with an unfailing ability to resist innovation at every turn. Not content with having released several thousand rehashes of that bedamned American Beauty theme, here he turns his incredible powers of bastardisation towards Air’s recent classic. So listen in awe as 'One Fine Day' unfurls itself as a part-for-part Bride of Wildenstein style pastiche of the splendid All I Need. Fucking dire. That Ms. Hirsch was up for this defies explanation. Especially when she’s made to sing lines as downright wankbadgered as ‘Coming of age, even my mistakes have turned the page’.
A pox on Jakatta, and may all the children he ever sires be born with tickly coughs that just wont subside.
-
3Mark Taylor's Score