Joker's Daughter
The Last Laugh
Release Date: Apr 7, 2009
Genre(s): Rock, Pop, Folk
Record label: Team Love
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Album Review: The Last Laugh by Joker's Daughter
Great, Based on 3 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Although a folk album at heart, The Last Laugh owes as much to baroque pop and pastoral psychedelia as the folk traditions that provide its foundation. Singer/songwriter Helena Costas is a modern-day troubadour, a student of Arthurian legend one moment and an indie temptress the next, and she plays each role for several scenes before flitting off to the wings to change. Had The Last Laugh been her own solo project, these unusual tales of goblins, jousting knights, and jellybeans might seem too fanciful for their own good.
Based on rating 7.3/10
The origins of Joker's Daughter almost sound apocryphal. In 2003, London-born, Greek-descended folkie Helena Costas struck up a transatlantic correspondence with New York-based beat-sculptor Danger Mouse-- well before The Grey Album made him internet-famous and "Crazy" cemented his reputation as a producer with a deep knowledge of pop's usable past. They planned to collaborate eventually, and six years later, they finally have: The Last Laugh, another hyped project for him but a debut for her-- is their first album under the Joker's Daughter moniker, which is based on one of Costas' many revolving stage names.
Based on rating 7/10
On their second album Gnarls Barkley labelled themselves The Odd Couple. Odd in the sense that they are two quite odd people, but not an 'odd couple' in the classic sense. They would be a real odd couple, however, if we replaced Cee-Lo with a female folk singer of Greek-Cypriot origin, trained in classical violin, with a penchant for Arthurian legend and songs about old ladies with giant shoes.