So what could a 27-year-old Australian find for herself on the streets of Berlin? “I didn’t decide to move here, it was fate,” and after five years of living in bedsits and passing the time recording in her room, the odd DJ spot and nights of babysitting to earn a little extra cash, Justine Electra has produced her debut album.
Causing a stir with her sassy image and all-woman lyrics, it turns out that Electra was just looking for a sound that would make her happy and influence others. Searching for a female role model, she turned to Joni Mitchell and the folky guitar in most of her songs on ‘Soft Rock’ shine through.
“I just muck around most of the time – pretending I’m one of the Andrews Sisters or another character. I’m not interested in my own life,”
But swapping the sunshine of Oz for the political hub of the European city, coupled with her love of cheesy soft rock ballads and any weird and wonderful instrument she can lay her hands on, has produced something that is inspired, but sounds nothing like her idol.
“Joni is brilliant. I like the way she talks about things I can relate to. She’s a real woman. I had a lack of female role models in my life,” Electra explains. “But I wanted my album to have balls, with some of it verging on cheese. I can’t help but love ‘I Wanna Know What Love Is’ by Europe.”
A feminist theme stands out in ‘Soft Rock’, although she says she had no desire to make a political statement. ‘Killalady’, a shoe fetish (footwear crops up in most of the songs), a tale of a man whose balls died when he reached age 98 – she’s no man hater, but being a woman is definitely at the forefront of her song writing.
The opening ‘Fancy Robots’ (as appears on our Clash CD this month) brings together a multi-era love of electro, pop and folk and sets the scene, although the format gets better as the album moves on.
Hissing percussion and soft strummed guitar sit behind Electra’s rich, bluesy American-influenced voice, but this basis is transformed track by track by imagination and experimentation.
Quirky harmonies, some that work and some that don’t, the odd gem of an Oriental plucked string or a toy piano, a high school sing-along or chirpy, exotic, feel good number, a bit of the Kate Bush craziness and stories of growing up – it all makes for a diverse collection.
“I just muck around most of the time – pretending I’m one of the Andrews Sisters or another character. I’m not interested in my own life,” she says. “And I didn’t want to use expensive recording methods, I just wanted to fuck around and see what the consequences were. I hope it gives confidence to other people who want to make music.”
‘Calimba Song’ and ‘Defiant And Proud’ stand out on the album and ‘President’, although a strange mix of 80’s soft rock and words that would make a street hooker blush, turned out to be a highlight.
Some tracks are slightly stereotypical in the way they are performed, like the style of ‘Railroad Baby’ tends to be a little schizophrenic in areas and some lyrics seem to have been used for convenience rather than meaning. But the end result of ‘Soft Rock’ is still a pot full of the unexpected.
