The style of music a band plays is crucial to its subsequent success in many ways. Not only does musical genre help define the parameters of a group’s appeal (audience segmentation, demographic reach, marketability), it also forms the basis and core of a band’s identity.
So, when Universal/Motown unceremoniously dropped the Noisettes from its roster of recording artists, the three-piece music group indulged in a bit of creative self-reflection and reassessment.
The result is a genre-crossing sound with full instrumentation that brings together diverse elements of 60’s R&B soul and sing-a-long rock, combined with electro-pop and hints of nuanced punk. There are also flourishes of folksy harmonies in some instances, as well.
It is this genre-blending sound that landed the British band a new deal with Mercury Records. This new and invigorated approach to making music achieved the release of a chart-topping, full-length recording in 2009, and has given the Noisettes a real shot at bringing their music to the masses of the world.
Loud, Agit Punk Origins
The Noisettes formed in East London in 2003, raised from the ashes of jazz band, Sonarfly. London-born Shingai Shoniwa has her roots in Zimbabwe and Malawi. After graduating from the BRIT School of Performing Arts and Technology, she worked as a professional dancer. As the front woman for the Noisettes, Shingai supplies power-house lead vocals and bass rhythms, while mates, Dan Smith and Jamie Morrison (all acquaintances from the same art school), round out the band on guitar, drums and backing vocals.
In the early days, the Noisettes were over-the-top, loud, and electric, playing to agit punk-loving crowds in small, local clubs and warehouse performance venues. Shingai was known for her forceful singing, high-kicking, high-octane stage antics, replete with a unique, retro-bohemia-neo soul look. The band’s live shows generated enough of a following to secure a production deal with Side Salad, an indie record label.
Even though the EP, “Three Moods of the Noisettes” was released to only middling acclaim, the band still managed to get the attention of A&R representatives from Universal/Motown in the United States. What’s the Time Mr. Wolf? followed in 2004, and was released in both the United States and Britain. However, despite raucously popular performances and a growing fan base, the Universal music label chose to drop the band soon after.
Noisette’s Wild Young Hearts Reinvention
The band reinvented itself through dedicated songwriting and professional sound production. The three members worked on perfecting songs to deliver a more stylized and poppish groove. They enlisted producers D.J. Mark Ronson and Jim Abbiss, who had previously worked with the likes of Amy Winehouse and Arctic Monkeys. Mercury Records subsequently signed the Noisettes, and released the full-length, Wild Young Hearts in 2009.
The music on the new recording showcases a band that has matured quickly to attain a sophisticated level of musicianship and enhanced style.Though still eclectic and energized, Shingai here displays the full range of her talent, letting her salient abilities rise to the surface.
On certain songs, such as “Saturday Night” and “Every Now and Then,” her vocalizations change direction, easily moving from strident and bold, to soft and seductive. Some liken Shingai’s style to a blend of Amy Winehouse and Macy Gray, while still others hear echoes of an early Diana Ross.
Music Brings Diverse People Together
In the first weeks following its debut, Wild Young Hearts had reached No. 7 on the British music charts, and the release of radio-friendly singles helped catapult record sales to heights the band had never before experienced. The current fan base of the Noisettes represents a cross-section of demographic groups, covering divergent languages, ethnicities, and ages. Apparently, the band seems to have successfully found the right elements that bring people together when those people share a common love of good music.
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