Album Review: Zuzu - Queensway Tunnel
Zuzu - Queensway Tunnel (Planet Z)
Some of us don't live in the People's Republic of Liverpool, yet we live so close that it's sheer force of personality and history drags us in with an irresistable potency - basically, we're what proper Scousers would call Wools.
I have an infinity with this magnetic attraction, even though my accent suggests otherwise. I've been travelling to Liverpool regularly since I was a kid, mostly to go and watch Everton play, but also later to shop and go to gigs and clubs. I don't think there's any other city that has had such an effect of me. No matter which way I got there, the journey always required a trip through The Queensway Tunnel.
Built in the 1920s to link The Wirral Peninsula to Liverpool, the tunnel was pioneering; once the longest road tunnel in the world. It allowed outsiders to connect back with the city that had inadvertantly pushed people out; the overspill of rapid population growth culminating in satalite towns all over The Wirral.
That trip is clearly a source of inspiration to Zuzu too, as she has named her accomplished debut album 'Queensway Tunnel' after it. It's been nearly 6 long years since I first became aware of the immense talent that Zuzu posseses. A much more nervous proposition back then, She was first support for Courtney Barnett at The Academy in 2015. The song ideas were certainly there even if the self confidence in performing them hadn't full materialised at that point.
Much has changed in that time and after several ups and downs, Zuzu has blossomed into a charasmatic and charming performer - so much so, she was chosen to play the Government Pilot scheme festival in May, opening for Blossoms. Zuzu has become a festival mainstay in recent years and other support slots have included The Courteeners and Gerry Cinnamon; often playing to large arena audiences.
'Queensway Tunnel' feels like it's very much reflecting on and revelling in those experiences for inspiration. Opener 'Timing' is the album's big summer single and a swooning statement of nostalgia. The song is about ruminating over what might of been; meeting someone you connect with and the timing being off...we've all been there. The chorus is sung with her thick Scouse accent prominent; a passionate regional warcry that is noticable but not over-intrusive.
With a similar theme, 'My Old Life' laments the loss of a failed relationship with a gorgeous acoustic backing, that allows the lyrics to be more prominent in the mix:
So I drove my life to the edge of the Mersey,
I threw my phone sayin' you don't deserve me.
If Adele or Taylor Swift had come up with such lines, they would have broken the internet.
Recent single 'The Van is Evil' was nicely timed - more by accident than by design - to coincide with the COP26 conference in Glasgow. Climate change realities are a difficult subject to write about without sounding like you're preaching to the converted, but Zuzu is smart enough to write from her own perspective - expressing doubt in her lifestyle and her own carbon footprint.
I'm from Planet Earth, you know I put my own needs first.
It's a lyric that hits hard at the continued selfishness of humanity in the face of a crisis of our making and it's sung with contempt and frustration at those hampering efforts for real change. They may not have listened this week, but songs like this are important in their own way - it's an anthem that Greta Thunberg herself would heartily approve of. Either that or it's a particularly punchy retort from a sarcastic alien on Dr Who.
It'd be tempting by this point to think that Zuzu had lost her sense of humour; you'd be wrong with that assumption. 'Where'd You Go?' is a song that provides a link to the early E.Ps, which featured singles like 'Get Off' and 'What You Want'. They had a sense of sparkle to them; a shimmering indie pop glean and they're a lot of fun to listen to. 'Where'd You Go?' shares those qualities, bubbling along with the intensity of Wolf Alice and Honeyblood, as it pokes fun at a reclusive friend or partner.
Hey, where'd you go?
I don't know
Down the rabbithole.
Another highlight is the excellent 'Never Again', that's starts with a similar gentle acoustic strum to 'My Old Life', but it's clear the mood has very much changed. It seems as if the two songs are lyrically linked, but acceptance has now been obtained and there is more fight.
📷 Robin Clewley
Not for the first time in the album too, Zuzu's use of her native Scouse vernacular comes in useful:
I'm not tryin' to be the big man
(big man ...big man)
All I'm asking is for you to be sound.
The chorus soars and the vocals are strained to great effect, really ensuring the intended target knows they're never to be trusted again.
Album closer and title track 'Queensway Tunnel' is also the latest single. Clocking in at over 5 minutes, it builds to a magnificent crescendo .Again starting gently with a acoustic strum and a jangling guitar propelling it forward; this is probably Zuzu's strongest vocal performance on the record. She is almost pleaing to someone here and it's easy to conclude that this was written around the same time as 'My Old Life'. The track comes to a climactic conclusion - bringing to mind those stirring Snow Patrol singles of the early 00s - as a state of self aboslution is reached:
This is the last time, I drive you home from work at 3a.m
Through the Queensway Tunnel back to Birkenhead
There's a strange feeling of clarity that occurs halfway through that time in the tunnel. It's almost as if the anticipation built and maintained through the journey is just as important as arriving at the destination. If 'Queensway Tunnel' is a anything to go on, then not only Liverpool awaits, but also the World.
Listen to 'Queensway Tunnel' at any of your prefered links HERE and you can follow Zuzu on social media - Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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