Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
We are not expected to make sense of this life, it is for the most part a seemingly random course of events that seems to leave us confused, often perplexed, and finding us with a series of concerns that makes us question what exactly is our role in our own existence. From the loneliest boy in the world to the Happiest Girl In The Universe, no matter who we are, we are fortunate if we find the meaning to life through self examination and reflection.
It is with heartbreak and the story of our being that we can admit to the world that we are lost, and that the smile on our face is one that is painted on with tact. Yet even then it is perhaps the diary we never write that exposes our dreams, our passions and the sadness of life to its fullest extent, and for Amy Studt, the Happiest Girl In The Universe is the epitome of understanding the silence and the reserve in the haunting commotion that bleeds through the darker side of the human experience.
It is in the darkness that the single flicker of light attracts the most attention, in a universe full of blazing suns nobody can see the solitary soul with any particular attention, fighting with desperation and the gain of knowledge, and yet in the darkness and against certainty, hope radiates, it takes notes, it learns how to survive, thrive and above all, makes sure that those who follow are given the chance to hold onto that light with their own dreams intact.
This sense of courage and intricate meaning are captured with a heavy guided hand, one that will not release the fortune bestowed without a fight and in tracks such as I Was Jesus In Your Veins, Sleepwalker, One Is Only A Number, the superb Different Coloured Pills, Violently With Love and Troubles Coming In, Amy Studt’s latest recording should be seen as one daring, a removal of the clouds that hover by the roar of womanhood realising her own potential and unafraid to let others know the score.
The Happiest Girl In The Universe is a creatively brilliant album, one of absolute sincerity.
Amy Studt’s Happiest Girl In The Universe is out now and available via the Crocodiles Laboratories label.
Ian D. Hall