Three tracks into Half Free we come across a dialogue between two women, one recounting a bad dream which she weirdly doesn't seem to find half as disturbing as she should.
The last line and punchline of Telephone Play No 1 perhaps sums up many of US Girls' aka MegRemy's characters on this album - referring to "just another woman with no self esteem". The canned laugh track that follows that zinger is the stuff of horror movies - much like the sing-song rhyme of opening track Sororal Feelings, in which "now I'm going to hang myself ... from my family tree".
Other women appear: on Window Shades the lovelorn singer can't just wait by the phone and has to ring, and ring again, while on Red Comes In Many Shades the crying woman remembers betrayal and love lost.
The instrumentation on Half Free swings from the lush electronica of Navy & Cream and Woman's Work to the soft funk of Window Shades and grunge pop of Sed Knife.
It's not an uplifting album as much as it's a dark, disturbing album, but Remy is an exciting talent and Half Free, while not an easy listen at first, is an essential one.
