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TRACK: I Don’t Know

WHO: the all-new, slightly more serious Ms Allen.

WHAT: Tricky Second Album time approaches, so to test the water, Lily offers up early tasters in the form of I Don’t Know and I Could Say via her myspace site.

WE SAY: Granted, these are only demos, but the overall impression is of a woman growing up in public, possibly quicker than she’s happy with. The spunky impishness of Alright Still is no longer the dominant trait, having been replaced by a more guarded cynicism.

Using a more mainstream palette than before, closer to the airbrushed pop favoured by the likes of Sugababes and another girl group whose name I dare not mention lest Lily hunts me down and bottles me, she seems intent on using it to subvert from within. Over rudimentary beats, tweaks and minor-key strings, the bloggy musings of I Don’t Know caustically attacks her integrity-shy peers while simultaneously hinting at a sad reluctance to come to terms with the cult of celebrity she’s become a part of.

And with the Saint Etienne-esque I Could Say taking a more sober approach to the durability of relationships, it seems that though she may have marginalized the alcopop sugar rush of Alright Still, but who knows, this whine may be a full-bodied vintage.

IF YOU ONLY NEED TO KNOW ONE THING: glossing over the possible hypocrisy of her slating her rivals’ love of fast cars while posing in her top-of-the-range set of wheels for her Myspace profile pic, it’s reassuring to know that her potty mouth remains. ‘It doesn’t matter, cos I’m packing plastic,’ she claims, cocking a snook at the current credit crunch. ‘And that’s why my life is so f***ing fantastic.’

WHERE CAN I GET IT: Lily’s as-yet untitled second album will be out later this year.

FIND MORE: www.myspace.com/lilymusic

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