Manuela – Manuela

By the time the second chorus rolls around on Everything Goes, the gauzy, unassuming opener to Manuela’s debut record, you know you’re in good hands. In a subtle display of pop magic, everything is slyly shifted up a third, Manuela Gernedel’s winsome voice now floating at cloud level while Nick McCarthy’s prickly guitar provides the current. The effect is twofold; the extra levity sweetens Gernedel’s invitation to take a walk on the brighter side while also gently kneading the melody into your brain, where it will soon be joined by shoal of other little moments and phrases from across this album.

McCarthy’s minor pentatonic lick here is unmistakably Franz Ferdinand, and fans of his former outfit will find plenty to like on Manuela – the peppy angular saunter of Cracks in the Concrete is a prime example, but as the title suggests, this is primarily Gernedel’s record, and it’s her thoughtful poetry and wry charm that set the tone and give shape to McCarthy’s compositions.

Sometimes the emotions are all implied, like melancholy of a breakup traced in a trail of muddy footprints, while at other times, she comically obliterates any semblance of ambiguity: 'I’m jaded, I’m tired, I’m bored, I’m alone,' goes the refrain of White Hotel. Buoyed by McCarthy’s knowingly cheesy but clever, eclectic arrangements, Gernedel’s conveys a range of moods and experiences, from the joys of parenthood to the profound, almost meditative dullness of supermarket shopping. Her delivery throughout is almost like mumblecore dialogue – consciously a little awkward and stilted – but in a way that comes across as honest and endearing.

An eccentric listen? Definitely. But great fun too.

Listen to: Supermarket, Farewell, Invincible