WEEKEND VIDEO
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Polly Scattergood
“Please Don’t Touch”
Please Don’t Touch
2009
iTunes
English songbird Polly Scattergood entrances, disturbs, and impresses with her debut self-titled album. This 22-year-old native of Colchester, England threads together upbeat pop melodies with electronic and dark synth beats. Many of the songs, deceptively ethereal at first, suddenly take the listener to dark places. In “Nitrogen Pink” when Scattergood sings of “sweet, rotting memories” she’s referring to an acquaintance’s early death from cancer. In “Bunny Club,” which sounds like a potential dance hit, she recounts giving lap dances to strange men under pink, fluorescent lights. In “Breathe In, Breathe Out” she croons about a lost lover, and in “I Hate the Way” Scattergood turns the classic romance song on its head, combining discordant melodies with painful lyrics about swallowing pills and suicidal thoughts. The lyrics make the listener think twice — are they about Scattergood or someone else? The mystery is just one part of the appeal.