Laura-Mary Carter, best known as one half of rock duo Blood Red Shoes, makes her solo debut on Town Called Nothing. The album finds Carter embracing a quieter and more contemplative sound than her usual guitar-shredding anthems. Touching on folk, alt/country and more, its songs tell a story of love, desolation and abandonment...

Whilst the press blurb for this release state that it's an album, at only 6 tracks (21 min, 43 sec) it's more an EP. We also received instrumental tracks for each song, which was a bonus, but the CD and digital download album's online don't seem to include these tracks. If you include these, the run time comes to 43 min, 26 sec.

Fans of Blood Red Shoes may be surprised to learn that Laura-Mary Carter's style on Town Called Nothing is very different from her previous work with Steven Ansell. While it's just as good, it might not be what you're expecting.

Talking about the origins of this project, Carter says: "I found a beat up acoustic guitar and without thinking about it songs just started to come to me. The idea of writing on an acoustic guitar was new to me, I’d always written songs for my band which has a very heavy disposition. I realised that writing in this intimate way exposed my voice and changed the way I was writing and singing lyrics."

'Better on My Own' opens in a similar to The Pixies 'Where is My Mind', which made me smile. It was on this track that I also couldn't help noting that Carter sounded, vocally, a little like '80s Madonna.

This was an album I really enjoyed. Carter is an incredibly gifted songwriter and performer. I just wish it had been longer.

8

Nick Smithson