Brous - Streamers

Ever wondered what might have happened if Dusty Springfield had hooked up with Ennio Morricone? Friends, wonder no more for Sophia Brous (pronounced “Bruce”) of Melbourne, Australia has supplied a glorious pseudo-reality to that tantalising daydream.

Ever since I came across it yesterday, I've been hooked on this absolute classic, part Dusty domestic mini-epic, part Euro lounge exotica nugget.

Apparently coming from a jazz background, Brous has forged a sound from the classic age of 60s pop, all swooping melodies, but with baroque arrangements of organ, harpsichord and bending strings which succeed in nodding very gently to the Italian cinema master. Add in a bonkers Bollywood flourish here and there (check those fantastically unhinged la-la-las and spacey Moog squelches) and you’ve got the headiest global pop confection heard in years, possibly.

What’s particularly satisfying is that Brous has one foot in the avant garde – further research reveals she is lined up for a part in the Frank Zappa opera ‘200 Motels’ running in London later this month – but chooses to accomodate that tendency within the parameters of the pop song. Which is such a service to pop music we should all be bowing down in praise.

All together now -

Oh lover come down with your face so lovely
Come down with your jewels swinging

*By the way, check the rest of the EP too, it’s class – ‘Little ticket’, for example, carries on the Ennio theme thrillingly with a massed choir and clanging guitars.