PENNY BROADHURST
witty, catchy, clever pop music
Press Archive
An archive of past press. New additions will be blogged.
"Gorgeous stuff."
Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music
"She hasn't got a record deal but she sounds like an established act to me. I can see why she calls herself the Queen of Pop."
Clint Boon, Xfm Manchester
Whisperin' and Hollerin' (8/10)
Writer/comedian/performer/podcaster PENNY BROADHURST's infatuation with popular culture not only appreciates the etymology of words like gamut - it positively demands that the musical origin of the very word is given breath. So, she does pop music on top of all her other accomplishments. She does it very thoroughly too.
Not "pop" in a strummalong teacher/curate/Uncle Norman kind of way: pop in a thoroughly immersed, obsessive, self-consciously bangled and beaded way. I've never really got pop. I could never forget the cultural cholesterol it was piling up in my otherwise fibrous auricular zones. But Penny's right there with her breathless excitement at synths and guitars and drum machine un-coolisms. And as long she's in charge, I'm enjoying the trip.
"Give It Up" has an early 80's feel - some kind of aerobics-team dance track with nostalgically precise synth stabs and drum patterns. I have an image of Penny as KELLY MARIE. The hook is convincing, the harmony vocals are bang on and there's even a short, ripping guitar solo. Stay awake for the lyrics though - this is PENNY BROADHURST after all, and you're not going to escape without a bit of a tongue lashing "bring your own bodybag and do yourself in" isn't quite the welcome you’d expect from the tweenie-friendly backing track.
"Chemist Goods" starts with a guitar evocation of THREE DOG NIGHT'S "Mama Told Me Not To Come" and then swerves off into a double-bluff-calling of liberated sexual ethics. "At the close of business it’s a fluid transaction/I can’t get satisfaction from a liar" are the best put-down lines I've heard this year - all the deadlier for being dropped in to what could pass as hypernormal radio pop.
"LJaded" is edgier and just as confrontational - a male voice being added to increase the tension of the nether life in Live Journal and its progeny. Penny raps lightning fast - more in the style of her spoken word gigs. The content bubbles its cauldron with internal rhyming like "lurkin' in chatrooms, messenger pervin'. The soundtrack has some great 80s arcade game noises.
"London"(Klar Mix) has a big mainstream power vibe in the sound with a tightly nailed exposition of Northern independence and weary Londonphobia. The tune's mocknified punctuation from a set of East Enders' descending drum machine notes is gloriously trumped, flattened and driven off the cliff by a magnificent (northern) brass section in the last chorus. What a sweet way to say "sod off yer daft southern bastards".
Sam Saunders for Whisperin' and Hollerin' - click here for the rest of the review
[last year's girl]
"You’d be forgiven for thinking that the disgustingly talented Broadhurst - ex-performance poet, Ladyfest Leeds organiser and successful podcast hostess, to say nothing of her not-so-secret ambitions to hitch a ride in the TARDIS in a future episode of Doctor Who - had enough strings to her bow, thankyouverymuch, but her reinvention on new EP "Allons-y!" (one of my mum’s little catchphrases) is very satisfying indeed.
Snatching back the term “indiepop†from a bunch of twee mummy’s boys with floppy fringes and guitars, Penny Broadhurst is a fully-fledged indie pop star. A trouper who can put on an energised show after a six in the morning train journey, and the only act I’ve ever seen to pull of a laptop backing with aplomb. “Chemist Goodsâ€, the track which best showcases Broadhurst’s vocals, in front of a live band would be something else though.
Even the tweenage scenesters were up dancing by her cover of "Don’t Get Me Wrong". And if that isn’t a recommendation, I don’t know what is."
Lisa-Marie for [last year's girl] - click
here for the rest of the review
The Herald (Scotland)
"Probably the only musician you'll see this weekend who lists Alan Bennett and Britney Spears among her influences, Penny Broadhurst provides a welcome alternative to those guitar-slung moody males making up the rest of this section. Hailing from Leeds, Penny is variously a musician, actor, singer, writer, poet and spoken-word artist. On this occasion she will be concentrating on performing verbose and savvy synth-pop simmering with enough energy and wry lyricism to make attendance a must."
Michael MacLennan for The Herald (Pop Choice in the Going Out section)
Hip Young Gunslinger
Give It Up for Penny Broadhurst
* Poetry, as you’re no doubt aware, is a bit like music but with all the good bits taken out. With this in mind, imagine what would happen if someone put those good bits back in, thereby turning lumpen word plays back into bone fide pop music.
* It would be pretty good, no doubt.
* Now stop imagining that and pay heed to Penny Broadhurst, who has already done it.
* HURRAH!
* Frankly, anyone who starts a song with the line ‘Bring your own bodybag and do yourself in’ was always going to get the thumbs up from this blog but PB deserves it for her rich mix of music ‘n’ funnies.
* Anyone who has heard Victoria Wood’s 1983 live album ‘Lucky Bag’ (and yes, that IS the most useless reference ever put forward by anyone ever) will instantly ‘get’ what’s on offer here. A mix of dry northern wit and a simple-but-effective backing that leaves you feeling warm inside, basically.
* There’s not much else to say about Penny, who says that she has always adored pop (“it fires me up like nothing else; makes my heart sing outâ€), that isn’t already contained on her wonderful MySpace page, which we’re about to direct you to.
*Enjoy
Hip Young Gunslinger - click
here to read the blog