It is unusual for a non-Nordic artist to appear twice in this occasional section in a few months. However, the Swiss-Italian artist Veronica Fusaro is one who is forging ahead in her career so rapidly that everything she puts out now deserves a mention.
I’ve been aware of her for about four years and was surprised to find she is still only 23. In the intervening period she’s attracted the attention of the likes of Mark Knopfler, with whom she performed in an amphitheatre in Nîmes, while the 350 concerts she has played include gigs at Glastonbury, Eurosonic and support shows for Ibeyi and Eagle-Eye Cherry.
As with the previous song of hers that we featured (‘Beach’), she wrote ‘Fool’ herself, then entrusted Paul O’Duffy, who worked with Amy Winehouse and Dusty Springfield, to produce it. To be honest if someone told me this was a lost Dusty Springfield song that had mysteriously emerged from the vaults I wouldn’t be surprised. It has that mark of class that is now attached entirely justifiably to Springfield, or Mary O’Brien to give her proper name, today internationally recognised as one of the greatest female rock artists of all time and one of the first in the UK to introduce soul music here.
And Springfield had a minor hit song called ‘Silly, Silly Fool,’ the lyrics of which tell pretty much the same story of deceit, lies and broken hearts as those to Veronica’s song.
There are more surprises in store. Listen for example to the way she sings the pre-chorus (“So why won't you try / To be real with me sometime? / Why? Tell me why…”). Is that Sia, or what? (I don’t mean the Sia of ‘Chandelier’, or the blockbusters she has written for A-List artists across the world; rather the one of 2008’s ‘Some people have real problems’.) Meanwhile, in lines like, “But I will be honest, love / I'm starting to get / The script of your play / The rules of the game / The lines of your hand”, well that’s pure Apple.
The PR invites you to recognise the format of the song as a Bond theme and it certainly does have that feel to it, especially in the big band production in the chorus.
Which drags up yet another analogy, that of Salford’s other finest (after Elkie Brooks), Ren Harvieu, now fully recovered from her horrific broken back accident several years ago, who released one of the best albums of 2020 and who can sing a Bond classic or two herself. A duet between Veronica and Lauren would be an enticing prospect.
Well if there aren’t enough superlatives there for you – Springfield, Sia, Apple, and Harvieu – (and in the previous review I was comparing her to Shirley Bassey and Petula Clark) I’m not sure what else I can do. Check her out.
’Fool’ is taken from her forthcoming debut album.