Listen Up! No. 91: Anna Calvi - Blackout

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With an album mostly pitched somewhere close to the refined, emancipated fem-rock of PJ Harvey, Londoner Anna Calvi was a predictable choice for the BBC's Sound of 2011 poll. A worthy one, too, as her startling self-titled debut veers between wee-hours, hushed minimalism and borderline-symphonic collages of sound with some distinction. However, such ethereal indulgences don't always translate to chart success - Anna Calvi is marooned at #40 in the UK album charts - so Calvi also wove in a handful of brighter, more immediate rockers to sate those with a less elongated attention span. 'Blackout' is the pick of these, breaking through the atonality and using hooks upon which Calvi can emote with enviable dexterity.