On Tuesday, Everything But The Girl released another single and video from their upcoming album, Fuse. Both are, quite frankly, stunning.
The skittering beats and oscillating bass of opening track Nothing Left To Lose are followed (literally) by the second song on the album, Run A Red Light. It's a complete volte-face, musically speaking, a downtempo tune built upon minimal piano chords and soaring backing vocals and synth lines. Sonically, it provides a neat juxtaposition to what has gone before, a bold move so early into the album.
Lyrically, it's a perfect follow on and a theme begins to emerge. Nothing Left To Lose's narrator reflects that they "need a thicker skin [as] this pain keeps getting in" and resignedly asks "Tell me what to do / Cause nothing works without you".
In Run A Red Light, the character is more assertive, urging the person they're with to
"Forget the losers, forget the morning
Put a tune on, and put your feet up
It was my idea, I hope you know that
We’re gonna have this, I’m the one now"
The third song on Fuse, Caution To The Window, is available as a lyric video and completes the thematic trilogy, the voice of the song "Coming home to be with you / Coming home to be near you", imploring "Let me in, let me in, let me in", a note that all is not as it seems.
The beauty of Tracey Thorn's lyrics and her skill as a writer is in creating narratives and characters that are open to multiple, layered interpretations which inevitably means that the songs appeal to and resonate with a much wider audience.
Ben Watt is a perfect foil for this, providing a musical environment that is both sympathetic to the words and vocals but also transports them to an unexpected and interesting place.
If this is what the first three songs on Fuse are like, then the full album will be very, very special indeed.
4) When You Mess Up
5) Time And Time Again
6) No One Know We're Dancing
7) Lost
8) Forever
9) Interior Space
10) Karaoke
Fuse is available to pre-order now, ahead of a full release on 21st April.
Run a red light is a beautiful thing.. thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteWhat a comeback this is proving to be, eh?
DeleteMike's not wrong. It's my pick of the three we've heard thus far.
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit like choosing a favorite child for me, Swede. I started off this post just writing about Run A Red Light, but inevitably that got me listening to Nothing Left To Lose and then Caution To The Wind and I had to reference them too. What a return!
DeleteI mean, how many songs are so stunning that they bring you close to tears the first time you hear them? Run A Red Light is jaw dropping beautiful. Three tracks in and I know I am listening to a classic album being revealed.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more, Echorich. Tracey and Ben have both produced some amazing music in the years since the last EBTG album, but there's something so special about the music they produce together. I can also imagine a stripped back, acoustic version of Run A Red Light, Ben's guitar, Tracey's voice, being equally moving. What an incredible partnership.
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