The lead track from the ‘now confident it can work’ crowd funded Ginger Wildheart side project Hey! Hello! was a curveball. It was a misleading but inspirational ‘spoken word over rock shapes’ affair. Lyrically it’s all about credibility and enjoyment counting for more than business acumen and fashion consciousness in the world of music and the musician.
It was misleading because the rest of the album was a power pop male/female duet collection of ready made catchy choruses and sardonic wit. It was inspirational because the chorus wasn’t about holding your dreams in your heart , burning bright or shining like a star, it was a chant of ‘Ask lots of questions, don’t eat the bullshit’.
Ginger always wrote great pop hooks. Adding Victoria Liedtke to the Wildhearts format was inspired. Even if on this track she does little more than add backing vocals. The rest of the debut Hey! Hello! album comes hard and fast and rummages through your pockets for change and cigarettes and smears lipstick on your lapel as it goes by.
But among the Swimwear (Oh yeah, I’m in there) , the masturbation (Black Valentine) and the songs like Lock For Rock (and Other Sporting Clichés) this cold jolt of workingman philosophy is a stiffener.
