One of the most distinctive voices in rock n roll is back with her second solo album, and it’s giving us Goosebumps. The angelic face of the Hillbilly Moon Explosion, Emanuela Hutter, has teamed up with Jimmy Sutton (the producer behind the Bellfuries and Pokey LaFarge) to make a record bursting with love for all of her influences, and that’s not all: the mighty JD McPherson wrote lead single ‘Everybody’s Valentine’. With friends like those, Hutter’s in good company and we’re presented with an album blooming with warmth and timeless charm.

As an opener, ‘Everybody’s Valentine’ sets the bar high. Think James Bond fantasy tones, all tense rhythms tempered by Hutter’s ethereal vocals, chiming fuzzy guitar and punchy cinematic energy.  It’s also a fine introduction to the two threads running through ‘Goosebumps’. We’ve got the dark, taut, punkish moments of catch-and-release on songs like ‘The Voices’, a gloriously spooky number that tightrope walks over minimal bass and open choruses. Retro backing punctuates ‘Mean Lovin’ Machine’, a song to listen to in the dark and just let wash over you. But then, a sudden switch, and we’re soothed by the dreamy, sun-drenched optimism of ‘Today I Forgot To Cry’. The tender sweetness of ‘Monday Morning’, so minimal and delicate that it feels like a pedal steel lullaby to a half-remembered love, explores the beauty and quiet in a single moment stretched over time. Both sides to this album have their own beauty, and each will be a favourite to someone. 

The fact is, we can’t complacently forget that Hutter’s a songwriting force in her own right, and she’s drawn on everything she loves for ‘Goosebumps’. Of course that’s come through in the song’s she’s penned for Hillbilly Moon Explosion, and fans of her band can relax, but here she’s letting her love for her influences shine through. Tracks like ‘Kiss Me’ and ‘And When You Cry’ have the some fiery, sixties sensibility that runs beneath so many HME songs, and suddenly we’re seeing them in a new light. ‘Goosebumps’ is an album that’s never short on surprises. Take the country lightness of ‘One Legged Woman’, a song that reminds us never to try and pin down the Hutter sound. Her Ronettes and Patsy Cline -meets- punk roots are so clear, but ‘Goosebumps’ is a thoroughly modern record with a vintage, idiosyncratic sensibility that makes it a gorgeous listen. Take a swim through ‘Quiet’ and you’ll realise she’s tapped into a timeless quality that floats between decades, nods to her past and reflects her journey as an artist.

It’s so rare to find an album that is so resolutely and distinctively individual, packed with original songs that are uncompromisingly written with strength and love. In a world of pin-up vacuity, we all need to be a bit more Emanuela.

Kate Allvey

Catch Emanuela on tour next month: