If It Ain't Broke by Cyrena Wages

There's a lot of talk in London about whose summer this will be. Last summer was brought to you by the incredible Charli xcx and Brat. This summer in Memphis will be Cyrena's Summer. She's coming for all of us. Her music and lyrics turn placid men wild with unresolved attraction just as her razor sharp aquarius tongue cuts them a thousand ways before they're up and out of bed. She's more like a siren or medusa than a singer. Her capacity to delight and cause despair battle for supremacy. I'm overwriting this expecting it to be edited. Hoping it will be. But perhaps it won't. Perhaps it's not overwritten at all. [It's not. We need more. Ed.]

This new single is If It Ain't Broke. Here is a sample:-

If it ain't broke 
Don't let him try to fix it
Cos a man can't get enough 
Of his own opinion 

So true, as ever. It would be easy and cheap to say this is a song about another of CW's pathetic men. But it's not. It's a message from her to his other projects, her sisters. It's a warning to others: this guy is trouble and you need to be ready for a day when you're going to need to escape. It's a victory over misogyny.

I know CW. She's my favourite Memphis femme fatale. I can write these love letters knowing our paths will not cross. She inhabits a planet three thousand miles from mine. We have nothing whatsoever in common. I'm too old. She's way too wild. And yet. A great singer makes us all feel as though we know her. As she stares out across the stage isn't she staring at us all equally? Wild is good isn't it? Isn't it? Oh just say yes.

Releasing work is the best and worst time for any artist. CW's email which brought me these songs has insecurity baked into it. Nothing is more interesting than a strong woman unafraid of her vulnerability. She's not totally unafraid but her artistic need to share trumps anything else. She knew I would love it. And yet. What if I didn't? Would she care? You're damn straight she would. She's put everything into it and more. [Time to calm down. Ed.]

The American south has much in common with northern England. There's less money. Their accent can make the people sound a little slow. I mean stupid. We would say thick. This is a foolish mistake. The best humour, the fastest wit and the most painful laughter comes from these places. These are the interesting towns, away from the spotlight and the money.

Perfect 10. Yes she is. But as I listened to Cyrena's new songs earlier this week, alone in my headphones and my thoughts on Marylebone station in London I realised the song reminded me of another. These commuters had no idea what was happening. Another time and place. My hometown in the 1990s. The Beautiful South is a band from where I'm from but strangely it says something about where Cyrena is from too. The band name is ironic but it works here. Perfect 10 is a great song but it's far too jokey, silly. If It Ain't Broke is far better and more serious.

Cyrena still has the Lana edge to her voice and tunes. She wants us to think she is singing in the 1950s but it could be any decade of the last century. Timeless is an overused word but CW's lyrics speak of those age-old struggles between men and women, between people and their own selves, the need for company but also the need for independence. Are these true needs or mere wishes? Cyrena sings about these matters as though her life depends on it. In a way, it sort of does.

Does the new stuff include all the Gs of country music? Yes, apart from gasoline. I haven't heard any automobiles yet but there's girls, guns and god. There's an implied car here in "pack the kids and grab a gun, run into the sun" however. Cyrena isn't as fond of the acoustic guitar as some of her peers but there are amazing bass lines. There's a really good groove in this week's single.

The swearing is back and better than before. I think you call it cussing but it's a way she has of expressing both anger and humour at once. There's nothing funnier or more relaxing than the perfect swear at the right moment. Timing is everything.

To sum up: you're in for a real treat this summer. I have four of these singles and every single one is brilliant. They're different from Vanity Project of course. You would expect that. But they're similar enough to reassure you. It's still Cyrena. She has had time to reflect and mellow a little bit. The wounds of last year have scarred. She is able to take a step back from the chaos of her solo debut and survey the wreckage. She's still pissed off, thank goodness, but in a different and somehow more mature way. She is trying to warn those who will come after her, no longer thinking only of herself. This is CW v2 and it's fucking amazing.