Emergency of the Female Kind

Mixing amped up accordion with dynamic percussion, Amy Thatcher & Francesca Knowles are certainly bringing something new to the table. The Newcastle-based duo have been building a following off the back of their intense and excitable live show, and their debut record, Emergency of the Female Kind, is showcasing just that.

Borrowing features from jazz, prog and rock, where this album shines, it really shines. Opener ‘This Town is Big Enough for the Both of Us’ pulls you in with moreish melodies and hissing snares, while the title-track weaves through traditional sounds into euphonic synth arpeggios. ‘Start Giving a Fuck’ is an unrelenting smack of sound that explodes into a shimmering final act, which will set every cerebral synapse alight. Often though, these moments of thrilling dynamism are not quite sustained, slightly underpowered and lost among the tuneful noodling and meandering motifs. That being said, it's a sound that would undoubtedly thrive on stage, with added speed and decibels giving it the raw, angsty energy that bleeds through every new and surprising direction these songs take. What Thatcher and Knowles have created in Emergency of the Female Kind is a style inimitably their own, and one that hopefully ushers in a bright and bold future for the pair.