ALBUM REVIEW: Carol Hodge – EffortLess InSecurity (Midnight Stamp Records)
Crass collaborator Carol Hodge is back with her fifth studio album, and if you thought you knew what to expect from her by now, think again.
Perhaps best known for her backing vocals and keyboard work with the Steve Ignorant Band and The Wildhearts, she’s an accomplished singer-songwriter in her own right.
Here, the self-described ‘seven-fingered pianist’ has made her darkest album yet, and her lyrics feel more forthright and personal than ever, perhaps because it was written as she was beginning a new relationship.
EffortLess InSecurity is a deep dive into stoner rock territory, illuminated by bursts of piano-led prog and her wonderfully versatile voice.
It opens with first singles Manoeuvres, the heaviest song on the album. Confrontational from the start, it asks “Do you want to go 10 rounds with me?” as it calls out people being fake, particularly in their online presence – something we’ve all come across.
Gimme A Break is a proggy ramble through the build-up of mental pressure and desire to escape from it. She sings: “As for the darkness I’ve been there, I’ve seen it/I’ve smelt it, I don’t wanna go back.”
Hodge’s yearning voice is to the fore in the contemplative I’ll Do The Begging, which deals with forgiveness and asks why people feel it’s important to be right, rather than being ready to forgive and forget?
Small Crumbs, another single, is about how some people accept their lot in life all too easily, thinking “nothing’s going to go my way”, instead of carrying hopes and aspirations. Like many of Hodge’s songs, it goes off in several different directions, which is what makes her hard to pigeonhole.
The autistic trait of masking, which Hodge admits she’s done in the past, is the subject of Queen Of Fitting In, released as the second single last September. She finally accepted at the age of 42 that she’s neurodiverse, and it’s OK to be different, and she hopes the song will help others when she sings: “I know when to smile and when to turn away again.”
Hodge’s first recorded guitar work is a feature of the languid Drowning Rocks, which likens carrying emotional baggage and trauma to carrying a heavy load, and warns that it can drag others down too. There’s real emotion in her voice as she sings: “The rocks that you carry/Are bringing us down/The rocks that you cling to/Will make us both drown.”
Temporary Interlude is a dark song about suffering and emptiness, and it’s counter-balanced by Last Day Pass, which begins in ethereal fashion before unleashing a defiant message about making the most of each day, taking life one day at a time and finding yourself along the way.
Oversized Bag, the poppiest song on the album, has a bright, uplifting chorus, and is a story about leaving behind loneliness and then falling in love with someone who travels a lot. It wonders out loud if there’s room for her in the oversized bag which he packs his life into every few weeks.
A magnificent conclusion arrives with Ever Reliable Pain, a stripped-back piano ballad reflecting on the ever-present blanket of discomfort enveloping those who suffer from insecurity, even when things seem to be going well. It’s my favourite track on the record – well, it is as I write this, but that could change next time I listen to it.
Hodge has shown once again that she’s a national treasure whose work deserves to see her name uttered in the same breath as artists of the calibre of Regina Spektor, Tori Amos and PJ Harvey. I hope her day will come. 8/10.
- Carol Hodge’s album EffortLess InSecurity is available on limited edition vinyl and CD direct from her webstore HERE.
