Its never too late to learn to breathe.
When an act has that big commercial breakthrough its always interesting to see how they follow it up. For instance, last Saturday's dreich Glasgow afternoon was heartily brightened up by a trip to Fopp where numerous copies of Sandi Thom's album was marked down to a fiver. Without wanting to take pleasure at someone else's misfortune, a wise man called Nelson Muntz said it best when he uttered "ha-ha", no doubt taking great pleasure at the marketing dream turned sour and memories of that dreadful song about punks and hippies being consigned to the bargain bin.
However, not all female chanters carry that same feeling of nausea that Thoms induced. Nerina Pallot was an omnipresent force with 'Everybody's Gone To War' but it lacked the smugness of that other song and seemed to speak on a more realistic level to people. That and Pallot had paid her dues, which although shouldn't really make a difference if a song is good, didn't have the scent of a scam which hung around Thom's breakthrough like a stale haddock.
'Learning To Breathe' is as obvious as you would expect from the rather generic title and the lyrics are pleasant and meaningful without being earth shatteringly great but it's got a good build to the chorus. It also has a rather lovely Byrds esque guitar refrain which will have you singing "in the jingle jangle morning I'll come following you" all the way until the big FM radio friendly finish which...is okay. That and Nerina's vocals coo and snap in all the right places, giving the impression that she could kick your backside but you could still snuggle up to her later on, which to convey in a pop song, isn't bad going.
Perhaps it's because she isn't Sandi Thom, perhaps its due to that jingle jangle background which has always been a downfall for this reviewer or perhaps its just because its alright and its New Year and we should be giving stuff like this a chance. For whatever reason, Nerina Pallot stands above a lot of her rivals and peers and you wouldn't feel too upset if this song comes on the radio.