As far as female solo artists in this country go, there are few as idiosyncratic as Tara Simmons. She thinks about songwriting the way someone like Van Dyke Parks thinks about pop music, how arrangements and embellishments can enhance a song, rather than just support it. Following on from her enchanting album of this year, Spilt Milk, this five-track EP documents a more focussed Simmons. She mightn’t be as versed in the pop idiom as Megan Washington or Clare Bowditch, but her songwriting is wonderfully quirky, blooming with voices and instruments.

Opener ‘The Fundamentalist’ feels like the bridging song between Spilt Milk and this release, and it’s the song that’s most reticent of Simmons’ strongest influence, the eclectic Argentinian chanteuse Juana Molina. You can hear it in the horse-clop beats, the rustic banjo and the swimming spectre of voices. ‘All You Can’ is arguably the strongest pop song Simmons has written to date, and though I have some qualms with the mix on this one, its ebbing texture helps to bolster the tune’s simple melodic nucleus. My favourite, however, is the one song that tends towards the darker side of things, both lyrically and tonally. ‘I Cannot Be Saved’ is archetypal Simmons, a slow-burner that subtly builds, climaxing with a squiggly Korg, cellos, trumpets and her scatting BVs. But the most beguiling thing of all is her voice, one that soars exultantly and majestically right throughout All You Can, consistently grabbing your attention, even with myriad layers in the music.

If you’re looking for a cure from the seemingly never-ending onslaught of twee girls with acoustic guitars, consider Tara Simmons your panacea.

by Dom Alessio