If we categorized albums in the same way as movies and books, Rose Elinor Dougall's debut, Without Why, would be filed under "romance." All of the songs are focused on love and relationships; the arrangements are wistful, melodramatic, and lovelorn. Her voice, elegant and disarming in its directness, conveys a gentle heartbreak even when she's singing about being in love. The sound is sweeping and slick, but also springy and sharp, a contrast similar to early-90s recordings by Morrissey and the Sundays. Even the darkest moments of the album sound like a girly fantasy.
Dougall has come a long way since her tenure as a singer in what can now be considered the classic line-up of the Pipettes. She had a few songwriting credits while in that band-- most notably the singles "Judy" and "Dirty Mind"-- but here she's developed into a mature talent with a knack for melancholy balladry. Though she has entirely abandoned the girl-group conceit of her previous group, there's a thematic and stylistic continuity between those old songs and the music with her new backing band, the Distractions, on Without Why. Basically, it sounds like she's grown up a bit.
Dougall has moved away from the playful, sassy tone of the Pipettes, and embraced a deeper, more earnest approach to thinking about relationships, appropriate for someone entering her mid-twenties. Whereas she previously sang songs mainly about infatuation and the politics of casual dating, she's dealing with stronger, more complicated feelings now. Even the most assured songs, like the joyful "Fallen Over", grapple with some degree of ambivalence and insecurity. In "Find Me Out", she's desperately afraid that her partner will discover she's not good enough; "Another Version of Pop Song" has her warning a suitor, "Please don't say that it's forever, or that we belong together/ It's all I really know for now." As much as the songs evoke the butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling of cinematic romance, there's a stubborn insistence on dealing with love as realistically as possible. It's like young adult fiction with the anxious soul of droll British comedy.
Aside from the gorgeous finale "May Holiday", the best tracks on Without Why have already been released as singles over the past two years. "Stop Start Synchro" opens the record with sparkling glamor; "Another Version of Pop Song" is a dizzying, effervescent swirl of keyboards and strings. "Fallen Over" is propelled by an assertive beat and bold guitars, while "Find Me Out" goes to the opposite extreme with its serene sadness. There are some fine album tracks here-- "Carry On" and "Come Away With Me" are especially good and single-worthy-- but as much as the record is consistent in quality and tone, it's hard to avoid concentrating on its obvious peaks. Her slowest songs are her weakest, though they add a necessary dynamic to the album's sequencing. "Watching" and "Third Attempt" start off with an appealing stillness, but they grow stagnant and static before reaching their conclusion. It's not that those songs are bad-- they both have fine melodies and good ideas-- but that they drag on a bit too long. It's a minor problem, though. As a whole, Without Why is an unusually confident and expertly crafted debut.
