Feisty Chick, maybe, but as far as crazy goes, there's no trace of even the mildest eccentricity on Tissues and Issues. In her passage from angelic classical phenomenon to workaday pop chick, she appears to have lost all interest in staking out a unique territory of her own - though to be fair, her classical career was hardly based on challenging adaptations either. Perhaps working in such a constrained form at such a young age has hobbled her imagination when it comes to the more volatile musical form of pop: maybe all she can do is copy what's been done before, and hope that her superior technique will score for her.Hence the casting around for a style that fits, from the brittle funk-pop of "Crazy Chick" to the glutinous, string-swathed balladry of "Finding My Own Way", to the slight Latino flavour that haunts "Casualty of Love", to the buzzing synths of "Let's Be Alone".And though you'd suppose her classical chops would serve her well, that's not necessarily the case. But she appears to have no personal investment in them at all, judging by her anonymous delivery - a shortcoming compounded by the gadfly approach to their musical settings. So while she obviously has technique to burn, there's no distinguishing features to set these songs, and her, apart from the glut of female singers whose careers are likewise driven primarily by ambition alone. Most troubling of all, from Charlotte's point of view, is that the lack of compelling character here seems to reflect a corresponding lack of musical curiosity. She might make a big noise about being a "Crazy Chick" on the lead-off single, but she's nothing of the sort. Church co-wrote most of the dozen tracks, doubtless drawing on her time spent growing up in public for lines like "Bad relationships and people that I thought were friends/ People judging me without knowing me".
It's easy to see why she might be troubled by Stone's success, built on a voice of character and dependent for its effect on the singer's emotional input; because Tissues and Issues is an album so completely lacking in both character and emotion, and so strangled by musical and lyrical clich?it's hard to see why it was made (apart from the obvious financial benefits). It was revealing to hear Charlotte Church all but damning Joss Stone with faint praise on some TV show the other day, explaining how her own forthcoming album would feature a whole range of styles, compared to Joss's singular approach (good as that was). In Crail Church they were treated to a rippling performance of Schubert's Trout quintet, in which Zacharias was joined by a quartet of string players. Here and later in the evening, when Zacharias gave an elegantly articulated performance of Schubert's spacious G major Sonata D894 by candlelight, the atmosphere was magical.East Neuk's music festival offers a welcome alternative to the coastline's more established lifeboat galas and fish fiestas.. Putting a personal stamp on Mozart's C minor Piano Concerto K491, Zacharias supplied his own first movement cadenza, unusually including instrumental accompaniment alongside his solo keyboard part and intriguing snatches of other Mozart pieces.He played six of Schubert's German Dances for piano with perspicacity and subtlety. Schubert's Sixth Symphony benefited from Zacharias's directness of approach and the SCO's genial response to his refined interpretation, though not at the expense of the music's dramatic, darker moments.There was a smallish audience at this concert but the more intimate venues were packed. Arriving slightly late for a concert in St Monans Church, I listened outside to the strains of Mozart carried across the graveyard, which slopes down to the lapping waves.
Inside, under two model boats suspended from the rafters, the vibrant young Sacconi Quartet turned to Janacek's Intimate Letters. The players conveyed every emotion the composer poured into a piece inspired by his desperate love for his younger, married muse. In the airy, art deco Younger Hall in St Andrews, Christian Zacharias - this year's artist-in residence - presented exactly the sort of innovative programme with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra that gives the festival character and originality. It's a challenge they will relish.Rilo Kiley play T in the Park, Kinross, tomorrow. A series of eight chamber and medium-scale orchestral concerts may seem small fry in the great sea of British arts festivals, but the first East Neuk Festival, in Fife, showed unique potential.
