Another day, another rave review...
It goes without saying, of course, that Tracey Thorn's new solo album "Out Of The Woods" is brilliant. But I'm getting reminded of this with every new review that comes out, like this one by my extremely discerning colleague K.C.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
OUT OF THE WOODS
Tracey Thorn
Virgin
4 STARS
A QUIET re-invention has always been the modus operandus of Tracey Thorn, one-half of the British indie acoustic-turned-electronic duo Everything But The Girl, who had gone on a hiatus since 2002.
Still, few expected the re-emergence of the songstress especially as a sultry disco version of her former early-1980s persona as a college folk singer.
After all, she has been sequestered at home raising twin daughters and a son with her musical and real-life partner Ben Watt.
Out Of The Woods signals that she has never lost touch with what is intrinsically cool about this English couple – a modesty that underscores well-honed artistry, and a wariness of critical reception despite the big success of a remixed version of Missing by DJ Todd Terry in 1994.
Just look at her canny roster of collaborators.
Several songs here, including the so-retro-it’s-hip single It’s All True, which Thorn has dubbed as “pure 80s New York dance pop”, are helmed by British electronic whiz-remixer Ewan Pearson (Ladytron, Goldfrapp).
He joins dance names such as Tom Gandey (aka Cagedbaby), Metro Area’s Darshan, Mood Music’s Sasser Lindblad and computer nerd and 1980s-obsessed Martin Wheeler, who drapes enough chintzy sass to update Thorn’s sound but without turning her into the sixth member of glam outfit Scissor Sisters.
Take her cover of legendary American disco cellist Arthur Russell’s Get Around To It, which exemplifies her knack for lending warmth tempered with melancholy chill:
“I get excited/You get excited/Why should you fight it,” she sings in her trademark plangent purr over upbeat motorised synth funk, starlit keyboards effects and some saxophone tooting by The Rapture’s Gabe Andruzzi.
It’s an organic flow of warm and cool, a slice of electro soul and minimal house with Thorn oozing ineffable chic and intimacy at the same time.
Whether it’s the looped piano glissando in Easy, the fairy-wand balladry of By Piccadilly Station I Sat Down And Wept or the besotted thrills of Raise The Roof, the music reveals Thorn at a different phase of her life, untouched by the whims of fashion, and yet open-hearted enough to accept innocence.
One only has to listen to the opening track, Here It Comes Again, a lullaby accented with violin, cello and harmonium, where the singer adopts a rare falsetto, as if an angel comforting a child of violence: “Your mother’s blue/And your father too/It’s in the family/So where does that leave you.”
Heartbreaking, and heartbreakingly beautiful.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
OUT OF THE WOODS
Tracey Thorn
Virgin
4 STARS
A QUIET re-invention has always been the modus operandus of Tracey Thorn, one-half of the British indie acoustic-turned-electronic duo Everything But The Girl, who had gone on a hiatus since 2002.
Still, few expected the re-emergence of the songstress especially as a sultry disco version of her former early-1980s persona as a college folk singer.
After all, she has been sequestered at home raising twin daughters and a son with her musical and real-life partner Ben Watt.
Out Of The Woods signals that she has never lost touch with what is intrinsically cool about this English couple – a modesty that underscores well-honed artistry, and a wariness of critical reception despite the big success of a remixed version of Missing by DJ Todd Terry in 1994.
Just look at her canny roster of collaborators.
Several songs here, including the so-retro-it’s-hip single It’s All True, which Thorn has dubbed as “pure 80s New York dance pop”, are helmed by British electronic whiz-remixer Ewan Pearson (Ladytron, Goldfrapp).
He joins dance names such as Tom Gandey (aka Cagedbaby), Metro Area’s Darshan, Mood Music’s Sasser Lindblad and computer nerd and 1980s-obsessed Martin Wheeler, who drapes enough chintzy sass to update Thorn’s sound but without turning her into the sixth member of glam outfit Scissor Sisters.
Take her cover of legendary American disco cellist Arthur Russell’s Get Around To It, which exemplifies her knack for lending warmth tempered with melancholy chill:
“I get excited/You get excited/Why should you fight it,” she sings in her trademark plangent purr over upbeat motorised synth funk, starlit keyboards effects and some saxophone tooting by The Rapture’s Gabe Andruzzi.
It’s an organic flow of warm and cool, a slice of electro soul and minimal house with Thorn oozing ineffable chic and intimacy at the same time.
Whether it’s the looped piano glissando in Easy, the fairy-wand balladry of By Piccadilly Station I Sat Down And Wept or the besotted thrills of Raise The Roof, the music reveals Thorn at a different phase of her life, untouched by the whims of fashion, and yet open-hearted enough to accept innocence.
One only has to listen to the opening track, Here It Comes Again, a lullaby accented with violin, cello and harmonium, where the singer adopts a rare falsetto, as if an angel comforting a child of violence: “Your mother’s blue/And your father too/It’s in the family/So where does that leave you.”
Heartbreaking, and heartbreakingly beautiful.
posted by rookcub at
7:44 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home