With so much happening in nine tunes, Meg Remy’s third outing with her US Girls troupe could easily have collapsed under the weight of its constant theme of battling women.
Instead, Half Free plays on the disquiet of listening to tales of the wronged, widowed and scorned (even a taped phone call of Remy discussing the relationship between fathers and daughters, complete with canned laughter) by mixing it into a patchwork of styles that cover 60s garage pop, dub, power rock, dance-floor grooves and avant-garde synth pop. It’s masterful. Menacing, but masterful.
Stars: 4/5
Words by: James Belfield
