Album Review: Joker’s Daughter – ‘The Last Laugh’

Fairytale folk maiden gets lost in the forest of over-production

There’s many a myth wherein an unfortunate innocent is ravaged by a predatory knight. And, while Joker’s Daughter might make much of an historical and mystic aesthetic in Helena Costas’ lyrics of Merlin, talking owls and haunted castles, that’s what’s happened here. Producer Danger Mouse heard her demos and swept her to his studio to add the tools of his armoury to her folkish ditties. Costas is clearly a maiden of fair talent, which is why ‘The Last Laugh’ is so grim a tale. His electronics in ‘Lucid’ detract from the caper and the sub-Lily Allen skank of ‘Jelly Belly’ is ill-advised, while ‘The Running Goblin’’s harpsichord mires

it in a midden of shtick. Let the Joker’s Daughter create a ladder of tied sheets to escape this sterile tower.

Luke Turner

More on this artist:
Joker’s Daughter NME Artist Page
Hauschka MySpace

Click here to get your copy of Joker’s Daughter’s ‘The Last Laugh’ from the Rough Trade shop

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