Lonelady: one woman, one cry

Here come the 1980s again. In the case of Manchester’s Julie Campbell, the artist known as Lonelady, it’s the post-punk shapes from the early years of the decade that light her way. She’ll reel off ESG, Wire, Grace Jones, The Fall, PiL and co as influences. Hell, she might even have found a berth on Tony Wilson’s fabled Factory roster with the sound she’s got – not to mention those moody press pics.

In 2010, though, Lonelady is one of a clutch of new acts signed by the Warp label in a recent frenzy of AR activity. After a couple of minor-key releases (including one for the Too Pure Singles Club), Lonelady hooked up with Warp for the release of her Nerve Updebut album.

Co-produced by My Bloody Valentine and Stereolab veteran Guy Fixen, Nerve Up is arch and shimmering electropop, a soundtrack for a world where catchy hooks more than match any dark, lingering, bittersweet sentiments in the songs. As albums recorded in a couple of weeks in makeshift studios in one of Manchester’s many ramshackle, abandoned former mills go, it’s damn fine.

Campbell’s Lonelady forays began when she started playing shows around her native city in 2005 armed with a guitar and a drum-machine. She had played in bands while studying for her fine art degree, but Campbell found that she much preferred working on her own.

Given the music she listened to, the Lonelady sound came as no surprise.

“I’ve always found the angular post-punk sound of the early 1980s quite fascinating,” she says. “I’ve always been attracted by people like The Fall, Gang Of Four and Wire, through to the likes of REM and Throwing Muses.” The revival begins here.