and here's the first review......

I have just heard one of the best records from a
new artist this year . . . and it’s got a ukulele on it. Now
there’s a sentence I never thought I would write.
Not just ukulele, mind. There is melodica, and
glockenspiel, and celeste, and bassoon and, if ears do
not deceive, a cordless drill doing some percussion.
But don’t get the idea that this music is merely quirky,
although it does say something about the inventiveness
that went into the making. Those instruments are just
a part of the picture. Along with an orchestra, and great
songs, and a voice that smacks you right in the chest.
The singer’s name is Georgia Fields. The name of
her album is Georgia Fields. She’s from Melbourne. You
probably haven’t heard of her yet. But you should.
It’s an ambitious sound. After all, orchestras stopped
turning up on singer/ songwriter’s debut albums
back when the major labels stopped writing the cheques.
But Ms Fields has something worth being ambitious about.
Now Georgia, how did you get that orchestra on there
and sounding so magnificent? ‘‘It was a slippery slope
really,’’ she says, laughing. ‘‘It was, ‘Oh no, oh no, I just have
to have a 16-piece orchestra!’’’ This began a couple of years
ago when Fields, fresh back in the country after a trip overseas
and determined to finally make her musical daydreams
into reality, released her debut EP, Drama on the High Seas of
Emotion. It won her plenty of attention, including from Triple
J’s Unearthed.
Then Georgia and her musical collaborator Judith Hamman
played a show with extra string players.
‘‘I started meeting people at parties who could do some
recording cheaply. ‘‘Then we thought, ‘Wouldn’t this be great with a
clarinet?’ And a trumpet. And a trombone. Once we had
heard them like that we knew we couldn’t go back. They had
become part of the songs.’’ Happily, Arts Victoria
thought so too and came up with funding for recording. The
results are spectacular, from the orchestral Overture that opens
the album to songs such as Seven Years and This is Not a
Drill. Strong lyrics too. Hear Christmas Ribbon, with lines
such as ‘‘You’ll come crawling back to the taste of her mouth,
this purgatory is mandatory’’. Gee Georgia, you are putting
a lot of yourself out there, aren’t you?
‘‘I’m fine about it in the songwriting,’’ she says. ‘‘I’m
brave enough to write songs about things I wouldn’t say to
someone’s face!’’

Noel Mengel  The Courier Mail 7/10/10