Hollie Cook - Vessel Of Love (Merge Records)

Asked about her collaboration with Glover, Cook replied: "His studios are flowing with inspiration, creative people, magic and beauty. It proved to be a very the freeing experience and he brought the best out of the songs with his producer mastermind.". Title track 'Vessel Of Love' Hollie summarizes as: "...an ode to treating your mind and body right to get through those tougher emotional moments in life.", and opener 'Angel Fire' already landed the singer a nice summer hit. Wither this all means 'Vessel Of Love' therefore sounds all that different from its predecessors, we dare to dispute - Cook just states the album contains: "...way more synths..." - and Prince Fatty hasn't completely disappeared from vue either, as the drum parts on the album are attributed to him and his regular drummer Horseman. American graphic designer Robin Eisenberg, already responsible for the sleeve designs of Hollie's previous albums, also designed the enchanting submarine world for 'Vessel Of Love'. And apparently this was not an easy album for Hollie: "...I wouldn't say this album has cured me, but it's a product of having gone through a pretty tough time emotionally. I just tried to be as honest about that as possible. It's the most honest record.". Some of the songs on 'Vessel Of Love' Hollie at least in part owes to Jah Wobble: "A few of the songs were Jah Wobble cast-offs that he didn't end up using, so I stole them and wrote music about them instead.", so she thought it only logical that Wobble would play bass on those tracks himself. For those among you who might have forgotten, Hollie is the daughter of Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook, so the fact ex-The Clash and Public Image Ltd founding member Keith Levene also makes an appearance on 'Vessel Of Love' ('Stay Alive') shouldn't surprise. In her musical universe somewhere between dream and reality, Hollie once again created an absolute gem of an album, with the aforementioned 'Angel Fire', the somewhat more up-tempo 'Ghostly Fading', the typical psychedelic melodica-sounds in 'Turn It Around', and finally catchy title track 'Vessel Of Love' as highlights.