Out of the Woods

by

Tracey Thorn

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For her first solo CD since 1982's "A Distant Shore," Everything But The Girl frontwoman and the guest vocalist on scores of dance tunes Tracey Thorn has come up with a collection that is firmly rooted in her past but seldom repetitive of it.

Tracey serves notice on the opener "Here It Comes Again" that, in fact, the same old thing you might have expected from her is not coming again at all. This song is very simple and lovely, delicately sung with a beautiful string arrangement. She follows with "A-Z," a thematic modern day version of the Beatles' "She's Leaving Home" about escaping from "small town hell" sung with the same sort of lovely resignation the Fab Four brought to their tune. This song is also the first example on the CD of how electronica can be crafted into a very humanistic sound. This humanizing continues with the more forceful "It's All True" and the sexual come on of "Get Around To It" in which electronica meets the New Romantic poppiness of Haircut 100 which brings it heart and joy.

The rest of the CD pretty much follows the same formula with the warm vocals and wise lyrics providing a unifying threads such as the low key "Falling Off A Log" in which the singer realizes they've been in love with the wrong one and the counter-intuitive "Raise The Roof" with its "Why did I wait/don't tell me it's too late) refrain.

If you only want the Everything But The Girl Tracey Thorn skip right to "Grand Canyon" which talks about "the hole inside your heart no one can ever fill."

In my opinion, Tracey Thorn is the anti-Annie Lennox (who I love) in that whenever given the option to go over the top with her vocal performance she chooses to be underwrought, delicate, wistful and just plain lovely - all hallmarks of quality singing we don't find often in these post-Celine Dion days.

If you've been anxiously awaiting this CD for 25 years you've been richly rewarded. Except for one or two trifles it was worth the wait.