Anna Neale
Handle With Care EP

Anna Neale has been perfecting her acoustic rock sound for a while now and this EP suggests it’s a job well done!

‘Not Made For This’ is such a firey pop-rock track, it can’t fail to impress. It’s got a massive chorus and the whole song is washed in Anna’s luscious voice. If you did’t check your details, you might think she was just the good looks and special vocal in front of a writing team and session band, but you’re actually dealing with a genuine artistic songwriting talent, not a conveyor-belt package.

Things are softer and more vulnerable for ‘Handle With Care’, a teary-eyed break-up song. It maintains enough of a beat to avoid intraverted agony and the vocal is so sweet it transforms the entire song.

‘Soul Mamma’ picks things up with lounge-pop grooves before ‘Life Is Good’ supplies some total positive chillout.

This is a great record. It’s got a radio edit of ‘Not Made…’, without the naughty words and a remix of ‘Soul Mamma’ and it hits all the right spots. It has some instant hooks and some growers to catch you later on.

Written by Smith on 3rd November 2007

Stuart 'Saur' Smith was a prolific writer for The Mag throughout the magazine's lifetime. He combined a day job of temporary office jobs in London with a nightlife of trawling the capital's music venues looking for talent. As well as writing about music, he was a session musician who featured on a number of singles in the 90s. Today, Stuart is a Chief Writer for Phonotonal.

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