Bertie Blackman – Secrets and Lies

Bertie Blackman is an Australian songstress who, by dint of fusing electronic instrumentation with sultry vocals and honest lyrics, might well be explained as a cross between Frou Frou era Imogen Heap and Sheryl Crow by way of Bat For Lashes. It’s not a unique proposition but then her debut LP Secrets and Lies flirts so flagrantly with the mainstream that it doesn’t have to be to get her point across.There is no doubting that Blackman’s voice is inherently pleasurable; the timbre, her inflections, the oft surprisingly gutsy delivery; they all speak of a confident and talented vocalist. As far as her song-writing goes; that is more divisive. For some it will be functional with the odd surprise and nicely beat laden; for others, simply a mundane interpretation of an electro-pop backing track;Third track ‘Black Cats’ is Blackman’s first real stumbling block, coming across as a Goldfrapp reject, lyrics such as "I want to be like sex can sweat/and drip on you in sweet duress" making her sound more vampish than sexy. Following from this is ‘Heart‘ which sees an uncomfortably atonal verse segue vaguely into a sugary, obvious chorus.This indeed is a problem endemic to the genre and style that Blackman is attempting to make her way in; not only is it difficult for her to sound original, it’s also difficult to beat the established big hitters or at the very least not sound overly derivative in her attempt.Then, to her credit, there are some really excellent tracks nestled towards the latter half of the album. ‘Byrds Of Prey’ is a languorous pop treat with a suitably soaring chorus, and has since lent itself well to an insanely heavy DC Breaks remix, testament to its quality. ‘White Owl’ too, despite lyrics so strange as to border on nonsensical ("He loves to run/My white owl/He hates to fly/But he was born to run") has a bizarre yet satisfying midi-bassline followed by her most shamelessly blissed out pop moment thus far.There is no subtlety, really, throughout this album, but somehow due to the range of styles and themes that Blackman shifts through, the combined effect is promising as opposed to frustrating. She wears her heart (and her influences) on her sleeve, this much is certain, and there are some genuinely great pop songs on here.If Blackman is holding something back from us as her album title suggests, then it’s not clear exactly what it could be. What we know is nice enough but I remain unconvinced that I want to find out more.