The richness of this debut album from Welsh singer-songwriter Catherine Anne Davies betrays its years in the making, through griefs, injuries and heartbreaks paid wry tribute to in the darkly dreamy 70s pop of Doesn’t Kill You. Styles from the romping Kate Bushisms of Popular to the Princely post-punk of One for Sorrow are stitched together by the theme of the titular “second-rate writer”, sketching portraits of bitter ex-lovers in the likes of PS Fuck You, sending up confessional singer-songwriterdom at the same time as crafting a blackly witty breakup album. That concept could come through more clearly, and on the slower, heavier piano ballads such as Bury Me, the drama of Davies’s gothic Broadway stylings can grow suffocating, but her vengeful vision remains compelling.
