Kate Nash review: 9 Sad Symphonies - I liked it the first time around, but would I repeat listen to it?

Where were you when Kate Nash went punk? 

I ask because the second to last time I checked out the music from the “Foundations” singer-songwriter was around the time she released “Under-estimate The Girl,” which I found incredibly fierce. Was this the new direction that Nash was heading towards? 

Have the days of her cottage-core style dressing, eschewing the twee-like nature she returned to with her last album, 2018’s “Yesterday was Forever,” or with the label releasing her new work, was it a throw back to 2013’s “Girl Talk?”

When I saw that her fifth studio album, “9 Sad Symphonies,” was being released through Kill Rock Stars, I immediately thought that we’d be getting more of that spectrum of Nash’s songwriting. After all, this is a hallowed label that released the likes of Bikini Kill, The Melvins and Sleater-Kinney. 

Alas, when I first put on the new album, the first sound I was met with was that piano sweep that made Nash popular when she first arrived on the scene. I was slightly disappointed but that’s on me - had I checked out her singles from the album, maybe I would have been more prepared for what was to come. 

Kate’s gone back to what made her gold in the first place; a sweet piano melody offset by her cutting sardonic jabs at whatever soul has wronged her. It’s not a bad thing, and it harks back to the adage “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”

As you’d expect, Nash’s new album is incredibly quotable, with “My Bile” once again showcasing the quick-witted lyric quips we’ve come to enjoy. Nash this time informs the listener that “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will cut me quicker/ You can't get there sooner than me cuz' I am a killer.” 

For longstanding fans, I am sure it’s exactly what you want from a Kate Nash album and musically it is solid. I cannot fault it and I enjoyed the album upon first listen. But herein lies the problem - would I actively go out of my way to listen to it regularly? 

Perhaps not, and maybe that one is on me not being part of her ardent fanbase. But if I’m being honest, I thought at one point the album had bonus tracks on it that didn’t make the final cut - instead, Spotify just looped to some of her earlier work. 

It felt interchangeable which, again, is great for her fevered supporters, however for those who have a casual interest in Nash’s work, or were put off by her documentary, then this might be one of those “one-and-done” listens just to say you did it. 

Kate Nash’s new album “9 Sad Symphonies” is available now through all leading digital retailers, while physical copies are available through HMV and Rough Trade.