Woman's Hour – Conversations (2014)

Woman's Hour is a London based indie synth pop band. They play dark melodies filled with airy echo sounds. The most obvious reference is the band Warpaint, which is maybe not as electronic, but otherwise plays really similar sounds. Woman's Hour gets its name from a BBC4 radio programme. These synth pop sounds get lots of influences from 80's synth pop bands, but at the same time, the sounds are way more modern and actually very typical for bands around 2010. I think I first discovered the band on Spotify's Discover playlist, or potentially on a list of some record shop's albums of the month. This is not maybe the kind of music I regularly listen to. Having grown up in the 90's, electronic music and synth pop started to sound okay to me only very recently. But after discovering Beach House in 2010, I've started enjoying some of these bands.



I bought this album as a second hand CD from Flash Back here in London. I think it only cost a couple of pounds. With that price I always tend to buy any album that is even remotely interesting. I have listened to this album a few times at home, but I'm not necessarily in the mood for these kinds of sounds that often. The band would most likely be better enjoyed live. I almost had a chance to see them live as well in Field Day a couple of years ago, but this band overlapped with so many other bands that in the end I didn't see them.

The album starts by ticking space sounds and 80's style high synth melodies in the song Unbroken Sequence. The vocals are very soft and the song has been built quite nicely with all the different sounds coming in gradually. The title-track Conversations is a bit more straigh-forward pop song with steady beat and catchy melodies. To the End has some ominous and dark melodies in the verse. There is a nice contrast between the quiet verse and the more powerful chorus. Darkest Place has nice  more authentic piano sounds and subtle drumbeats that remind me of The XX. In Stillness We Remain has some fast bubbling electronic sounds that flow in the background throughout the song that has switching intensity in different parts of the song. Our Love Has No Rhythm is a slow song with lazy sound. I feel like I need a bit more variety from the song. Her Ghost has huge echoing sounds that remind me of Beach House. The song itself is slow and quite simple, but the sounds make up for a lot and actually this is one of the best songs on the album. Two Sides of You is the slowest song on the album. It's carried out just by a soft synth blanket in the background that wraps you into a hypnotic warmth. Devotion returns to the sounds of the early album with ticking electro sounds and echoey dry sounds. Reflections sounds a lot like The XX again. The sharp and dry electric guitars are there for sound rather than for melody through most of the song. The album ends with The Day That Needs Defining, which is one of the most intensive sounding song on the album. The background is dominated by vibrating techno sound, although the beat sounds of techno are actually missing.

As is appropriate for a band like this with visual aesthetics such as these on the album cover, Woman's Hour's music videos are generally black and white and quite simple. The video for Her Ghost shows just a woman in front of a grey background moving to the song and signing the lyrics with her hands.

The biggest flaw of this album is that all the songs kind of sound similar. I'd like to get a bit more variety out of the band. Otherwise, I really like their dark and melancholic synth pop sounds filled with echoes and industrial feel.

Listen to the album on Spotify.