Beth Ditto - Fake Sugar review: ‘More sugar rush than sugar crash’

Beth Ditto seemed destined for a solo career after middling indie band Gossip’s disco-punk anthem Standing in the Way of Control made her a star. But it took years of diminishing returns with her group until she decided to go it alone.

If Ditto’s songs don’t have quite the fire of old — she’s now 36 and happily married — her substantial vocal and Southern charm ensure this reinvention is largely a success.

There’s a heartfelt honesty to ballads Love in Real Life, Clouds and the title track, as well as a hint of Dolly Parton on In and Out.

She’s less suited to the record’s mainstream pop, though throbbing tunes like Do You Want Me To and Oh My God mean Ditto’s debut is more sugar rush than sugar crash.

(Virgin)