Words by:
Dan Bull
Follow @DanBull7609
Of all the oddballs that have genuinely believed they have The X Factor; the Jedwards and Wagners and Goldies, Lucy Spraggan was probably the most bizarre. A talented, guitar-playing songwriter, who had already independently released her debut album; she was as far removed from a typical hopeful as is physically possible.
Now, just under a year after leaving during the live shows due to ‘illness’ (her removal is still subject to question), her first efforts on a major label (Columbia) have been released. Featuring some of the self-penned tracks she performed as part of the competition, Join The Club also includes rerecorded songs from her debut, Top Room At The Zoo.
Opener Someone sets the tone for the sort of songwriter Spraggan is. Her words are not littered with wordplay or poetry or ambiguous imagery. Her songwriting is simple, but simply done well. She is a storyteller, introducing her listeners to likable characters and filling them with hope, assuring them that while you “may never set foot on the moon, you’re already someone.” Tea & Toast, a track she performed during Bootcamp on The X Factor, is a genuinely moving story, capturing a lifetime’s worth of feelings in four and a half minutes.
Although there are times when the acoustic, light-folk sounding tracks can begin to sound samey, there are other elements thrown in elsewhere. In A State (about a relationship across America… very clever) switches suddenly from downbeat guitar to a jaunty xylophone beat, while Wait For Me and lead-single Lighthouse (co-written with Ordinary Boy Samuel Preston) have a richer, Mumford-esque sound, somewhere between their bluegrass folk and an Irish singalong with lines about “streets paved with gold”.
As well as other peoples’ stories, Spraggan has a few of her own. ’91 covers a relationship with a woman eight years her senior, whilst Mountains (the first song she sung during Live Shows) is the song that first introduced the majority of us to the idea of an X Factor winner who didn’t want to be Mariah or Whitney, and wouldn’t be up for covering either.
Although Lucy claims her music is influenced by acoustic, folk and hip-hop, the latter does not always work. You’re Too Young, a rap track over piano chords, is not as credible as other tracks on the album, and although Last Night (Beer Fear) was funny at first, it could have been left from the album. Paper Dreams, however; a vintage, straightforward synth-pop backing track with lyrics about “eating last nights pizza” and being “a bitch but not too faced”, is without a doubt a highlight, and sounds different to anything else on the album.
While hardcore fans who bought her debut (before Simon Cowell and co had it removed from iTunes) might be disappointed with the amount of recycled material, Paper Dreams gives hope for a progress in sound for her follow-up. A third album from an unlikely X Factor contestant who left the show? Lucy Spraggan was brave enough to go on a TV talent show where others wouldn’t, she got the exposure she wanted, she opened the doors for other artists (not just singers) who haven’t yet made it and – at the time of writing – she’s #3 on the iTunes album chart with an album of her own songs. Who wouldn’t want to join the club?
