Screentime

One would be hard-pressed to argue that All of Something by SPORTS was a happy album; on the contrary, the album's peppy, perfect choruses and 'four friends rocking out in the garage' feel belied a deep, desperate melancholy that only really became apparent after, ooh, four or five listens. "Take my mind off the empty space in this heart of mine" indeed.

In spite of this, though, All of Something was unmistakably a summer album. Songs like Saturday and Get Bummed Out sounded like school holidays, like endless August afternoons, like skateboards on sun-blasted pavements, and even if Carmen Perry's lyrics were kind of depressing at times, the music itself was mostly pretty upbeat.

But don't worry, because here's Addie Pray, Perry's solo thing. If you enjoyed All of Something but longed to experience its melancholic undercurrent without having to peer through those deceptively joyous pop-punk songs, then Screentime is the album that you've been waiting for.

If All of Something was the soundtrack to a bummed-out summer, then Screentime is perfect for autumn/winter, particularly if you spend the colder months in bed with only your laptop and your favourite jumper for company. It's a hibernating album; Carmen Perry has retired to her quarters for the winter, and aside from the occasional visitor (one of the guys from SPORTS shows up to help with a few of these tracks), she'd like to be left alone, thank you very much.

Not that I'm criticising this approach - in fact, quite the opposite. The above paragraph is a reasonably accurate reflection of how I've spent the last few months, and if, like me, you struggle to do anything on a weekday evening in December besides crawl into bed and browse the internet for hours on end, then Screentime will give you plenty to love. It has a lackadaisical warmth that suggests Perry really is transmitting live from under her duvet, and her voice has retained the wonderful 'I'm on the brink of giving up but I'm singing my heart out anyway' quality that was such a big factor in All of Something's brilliance.

Screentime by Addie Pray is out now on Father/Daughter Records and you can get it here.