Music

Miss Candie Payne (a one-time member of Tramp Attack, owners of possibly the best name ever) is the sister of Zutons guitarist Sean, yet you wouldn’t know from listening to this debut. She deals in a sound that’s some distance from the meat-and-veg fare peddled by her sibling’s band, preferring instead to explore the elegant side of ’60s pop (is there any other decade for Liverpudlians?), albeit with a modern kink. She joins likeminded souls The Shortwave Set, Superimposers, I Monster and, of course, Saint Etienne in their quest to craft pop hits out of curio-like sources, taking for inspiration ’60s lounge, Dusty’s soul, Serge Gainsbourg, lost soundtracks and Joe Meek’s odd-pop.

It’s simplistic and minimal, like Buddha, and makes ‘I Wish I Could…’ a slinky, sassy and high-heeled affair, especially for the first six songs, which veer from a hook-stuffed Nancy Sinatra with breaks (the title track) to a kind of Carnaby Street trip hop (‘Why Should I Settle For You’) and Girls Aloud for beatniks (‘Take Me’). Her vocals don’t leave much of an imprint and she may not have the chops of Gnarls Barkley faves The Shortwave Set, but Payne certainly has enough class and smoke-hazed mystery to inspire further listening.