I was able to discover Poe thanks to the jumping and screaming of a certain Dutch person, and I’m glad I was able to sample the delights of one of the most romantic and haunting female vocalists around at the moment.

The album opens with a spooky and rather abstract tape slice with Exploration, and it’s said that the tape splices throughout the album are of her late father. Whatever the motive behind the tapes, it sets an eerie mood for the rest of the album which bursts opening the music with the energy charged and hauntingly beautiful Haunted. Lyrically chilling at times, it’s a stunning way to open an album that has quickly become a favourite of mine.

Following Haunted we have the punchy, dominating and aggressive track in Control. Dirty electric guitars and drum loops, the track is lyrically sexy and melancholy in the same breath, offering a slower reprieve from the pace of Haunted, but no less an interesting track.

Terrible Thought continues the theme of dirty whining guitars, reduces the pace to a sort of bluesy number and includes organ and piano playing. It’s a track that doesn’t immediately spring out, but after giving it some time, it sounds fresh and different offering a different style of music to the previous tracks. Her vocal ranges is tested a little here, and it’s a joy to hear do so as she sings out “You’re breaking my stride”.

My least favourite track on the album is Walk the Walk, which sounds a bit cheesy for my liking and lyrically inept at times. After such a powerful start I guess it was to be expected, but I cringe everytime I hear Walk the Walk, and often remove it from the playlist simply to avoid it’s repetitive nature. Lyrically depressing, musically uplifting, it’s yet another track that tests Poe’s vocals, and infuses the album with some rock. It’s anthemic, catchy and loud but one of the weaker tracks on Haunted.

Terrified Heart is another haunting tape splice, with Poe talking down what seems to be a telephone, echoing and continues the melancholy.

I love Wild, as it’s a electro-rock track, but this time removes the cheese and goes for the guts. It’s unrelenting in its vicious lyrics, it’s unrelenting in its charming music. It does become a bit repetitious and at 9 minutes long it’s one of the longest tracks on the album. Still, it’s a genuine and honest outlet for Poe’s emotional turmoil, and as such is great to listen to. The latter third of the track goes more electro-pop than the start and continues to drag out the track, perhaps to it’s detriment.

Another favourite track, 5 &1/2 Minute Hallway, with acoustic guitars opening the proceedings and violins and drums in the background, Poe’s voice dominates with a delicacy that will charm even the coldest of hearts. Sure, the lyrics are hardly inspiring confidence, but it’s Poe’s ability to mix the lighter melodies with darker lyrics that really captures the listener.

Not A Virgin is another compelling track that talks about a topic that children like Britney Spears probably couldn’t understand, and that is sex. The track has a lot of balls, and continually impresses with it’s role reversal of a woman treating a man the same way a man might treat a woman, with quiet whispers and empty promises. May be you have to be a lady to understand the true extent of the track, but fused with sexuality, it’s a great track.

Continuing the theme of sexuality, Hey Pretty is quite postively the sexiest and raunchiest track on the album. Narrated by a male, with vocals from Poe, it offers a teasing and tantalising track with imaginative and sexually charged language and music that screams lusty desire. Brilliant.

The rest of the album is equally exquiste and continues themes of emotional bedlam and dejection. Haunted is an album you can’t go wrong with, and it also has a little humour to lighten the mood with Lemon Meringue, even if the lyrics are rather simple when compared with the rest of the album.

There are many facets to the album, the splicing of her late father’s voice in the recordings, and her own lonely conversations sometimes in response to her father and other times a simple solitary voice is both captivating and gloomy in equal measure. the ballad of Spanish Doll being another highlight and offering variance and variety in both her music, and her lyrics. Haunted is simply put, an awesome album.

Verdict: An emotionally fuelled album that rarely hits a low mark. Stunning.

Track listing:

1. Exploration
2. Haunted
3. Control
4. Terrible Thought
5. Walk the Walk
6. Terrified Heart
7. Wild
8. 5 &1/2 Minute Hallway
9. Not a Virgin
10. Hey Pretty
11. Dear Johnny
12. Could’ve Gone Mad
13. Lemon Meringue
14. Spanish Doll
15. House of Leaves
16. Amazed
17. If You Were Here