by Richard Wyatt
Brigitte Nagger, going under her alias as Common Holly, returns with her sophomore album –When I say to you Black Lightning. Released almost exactly two years after her much acclaimed debut album, Playing House, it fulfils her potential as a songwriter – developing the best elements of her debut and shaping them into a more consistent and rounded record.
Over the nine tracks, When I say to you Black Lightning explores the ways in which we all experience pain, fear and self-delusion, and how we can learn to confront those feelings with boldness. While her debut dealt with her own inner turmoil of facing a break up of a relationship, When I say to you Black Lightning deals with a variety of characters that Naggar has observed or interacted with both romantically and otherwise.
Sonically, the album has a more experimental sound – it’s wilder and less refined. Standout, Joshua Snakes, is instantly catchy, and despite the playful sound of the song, the lyrics have a much darker substance – ‘You’re like a snake in the middle of a regular day / There was that time I tried to catch it / But it slithered away.’
Equally brilliant is the beautiful and mesmerisingly tender, Measured, which again features Nagger’s darkly poetic prose – ‘You unbuttoned your shirt/ And I looked at your heart / Then you showed me your lungs / Yeah you pulled them apart /And I echoed it back/ And for what it’s worth / Oh I think we’ve been measured out for pain since birth’.
New fans of Common Holly will love this album, but so will her already dedicated fanbase. Expect Common Holly to have a big end to 2019, and an even bigger 2020.
Secret Meeting score: 80
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