Pop Is Not The Enemy: (this should be more) POPular

You know that thing when you hear a song and you can't believe it hasn't been a massive hit? Yeah, that...

The tale of this song is a complicated one, step forward Jennifer Davies.

I first stumbled across Ms Davies in 2009 when she was the lead singer in a band called Soft Toy Emergency. They were signed to AATW and produced a few pretty good hyperspeed electropop/dance tracks including 'Critical' - see below.

The group split up soon after that and Jennifer went solo. Now going by the name Vela she had another crack at breaking through and produced some darker, more dance-oriented material including the rather wonderful 'Painkiller' (apologies for the random video it's the only one that's on the YouTubes).

Despite some exposure on Radio 1, courtesy of Welsh airwave botherer Huw Stephens, and being hotly tipped by Popjustice she still couldn't manage to get much mainstream attention.

This brings us to the present and the song in question. Re-branded again under the imaginative name of Jennifer Davies she's back for another round and sounding better than ever. Towards the end of last year Jennifer released a free EP, 'Lapse of Time', through iTunes and to download for free through her website.

Sounding fresh and vital Jenn has produced an excellent little EP that combines driving electronica with crunching guitars and interesting lyrics.

"You're the kind of advocation,

Playing on the devil's side,

You can state your good intentions,

While I find a place to hide."

(Disconnected)

For me the highlight of the RP is the title track, it builds on a pulsing looped keyboard sample and tinkling piano top line. Jenn's slightly husky vocal compliments the feather-light production and the drums kick in and drive us towards a dreamy pre-chorus breakdown. The chorus arrives in an explosion of bratty shouting and chugging guitars that boost the already uplifting sound.

It's hard to say whether this will bring her the mainstream success I think she deserves, but I feel that this is the closest we've got to seeing, and more importantly hearing, the real Jennifer Davies. You can really hear the sense of passion and joy pumped into each of the tracks on the EP, and more importantly it's bloody good pop music. It's well worth checking out her YouTube channel for the videos for this and the other tracks plus some behind the scenes gubbins, and download the EP though her website.

As a little bonus I've also attached the video for a mash-up of Madonna's 'Ray of Light' and her own 'Lapse of Time' which is really rather good!