First year of University I was living in some woman's house in Chingford. My girlfriend was in Stoke on Trent and we were both struggling with the distance thing. Then I fell in love with Tanya Donnelly.
First time I heard Feed the Tree would have been sat in the room of my digs listening to the radio while I played Sensible Soccer... I was so studious. I loved it immediately but knew nothing about the band or where Miss Donnelly had come from.
I probably had the album within a week and slowly but surely, mainly thanks to the NME I started to get the bigger picture around Donnelly and just how damn cool she was.
He fragile, little voice, was immediately attractive, but there was also an element of a girl rocking out. She was a precursor to PJ for me, lovely and more than a little kooky. I do so love kooky.
Listening back to the album now it's all very quiet and dark to start with until Dusted kicks in and the album springs to life. Sure it's about Drug addiction, but it's the voice, almost buried by the guitars, that makes it such a great song.
It's an album of slow thoughtful songs punctuated by moments of joy and energy. It's one of the first indie albums I fell for and an album that took me on a winding path to the Pixies.
I'll always be grateful to Tanya Donnelly for that.
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