Tuned In review: London's The Good Natured fleshes out '80s sound on 'Skeleton'

Kids today sure like that ’80s music.

London trio The Good Natured — featuring 20-year-old Sarah McIntosh as its frontwoman — is one of the more recent, and more effective, acts to put a modern spin on pop’s quirkiest decade.

Although McIntosh fashions herself as something of a Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees, her delivery is less exotic and more like a youthful version of Dolores O’Riordan of ’90s band The Cranberries. Also, although The Good Natured presents itself as a “synth-noir” act, it’s far more “synth” than “noir.”

That said, the band, which roughly follows the trail of La Roux, is crazily addictive — probably more so than it would be had it been as dark as it seemingly intended on its new “Skeleton.”

The “problem” is The Good Natured’s hooks are irresistible, made all the more appealing (and accessible) by McIntosh’s pop-perfect voice. The gloomy theme and pounding beat of “The Hourglass,” for example, is contrasted by her arcing croon, and any brooding sentiment of the title track’s chorus of “So we’re standing all alone/And I am naked to the bone” is disintegrated by her magical melody.

The trio (which also includes George Hinton on drums and Sarah’s brother Hamish McIntosh on guitar) occasionally taps the Goth vibe — as with the heartbeat cadence and propulsive rhythm of “Your Body Is a Machine” and a Siouxsie-ish mechanical churn on “Prisoner.” Yet the darkness always lifts in the buoyant refrains, whether McIntosh is singing woh-oh-ohs on “Be My Animal” or cheerfully riding the heavy push of the escapist “Wolves” with, “The moon is rising, and I’ll never be alone/Wolves will take me home.”

Ultimately, “Skeleton” draws blood with its killer hooks, not its the soul-piercing disposition.

Rating: 4

© 2011, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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