Ghosts - Siobhan Donaghy

Yes, that one who was in the Sugababes before anyone really liked them. And yes that one who released a rather wonderful solo album Revolution In Me which sold a mere fraction of the amount that her former band-mates did.

Still she's nothing if not a trier and here we are, three and a half years or so later and she's trying again. And if you were to believe the hype, or the self-aggrandising press, leading up to the album then it represents a left-field, experimental take on modern pop music.

"Some people say you can't make left-field pop music and be commercial,"announces Siobhan Donaghy, "and that's bullshit."

The reality is that it doesn't, unless one considers the only kind of "pop" music to be the R'n'B styled manufactured rubbish that we're deluged with these days. But hey, maybe in these homogenised times merely releasing a record that doesn't adhere to some form of pre-ordained template is experimental enough.

It may give you some idea of how the album sounds in parts to say that at times when I was listening to it I was convinced that someone had spliced in a new Kate Bush track or something of that ilk and when the album is at it's best the comparison is not necessarily a blasphemous one.

The sad thing is that the comparison can't hold up over the entire album, which is a shame. It seems as if Donaghy's intentions were to make a unique and experimental album and to me it seems as if she's pretty much nailed that. If anything though she's perhaps not been experimental enough with some of the tracks indistinguishable from the kind of singer-songwriter fare you'd expect Edith Bowman to hype to death.

Still just by listening to the first three tracks alone (Don't Give It Up -what can I say, it's grown on me-, So You Say and There's A Place) you could just about forgive her anything. Maybe it's not as "complete" an album as Revolution In Me, but it's best tracks outweigh even the best from her debut. So all things considered, roll on album three.