Loretta Maine: Bipolar

Wasted, insecure and not quite as mad as she seems, Loretta Maine delivers musical character comedy of a high order, putting her ostensibly abject outsider status as a boozy, bipolar American rock chick to very funny and incisive use as an observer of British ways. Backed by a two-piece band dubbed Penis Envy, she yowls out rollicking numbers about binge drinking, coma-stricken one-night stands and fried chicken shops, hitting a smart balance between narcissistic debauchery and satire: a high note is her identification of the White Wine Witch (‘you know her – she’s got loads of opinions then she cries’); elsewhere, shrewd takes on beauty ideals and taboos around female sexuality lurk beneath the mad hair and smudged mascara.