traceythorn-outofthewoods music reviews Virgin Media
The surprise with Tracey Thorn releasing a solo album is not that she's done it all - rather that it's taken so long. Aside from her solo debut, cult mini-album A Distant Shore released back in 1982, Thorn is best known for her output with partner Ben Watt as Everything But The Girl via their folky, alt-pop in the Eighties and re-emergence as chart-conquering electro-pop giants in the Nineties, as well as her odd seminal guest appearance with Massive Attack (Protection) and Deep Dish.
The main thing that made Thorn special throughout was always, always that voice: a tone richly soaked through with melancholy and emotion but with ever a hint of hope. Thorn herself admitted in a recent interview that she could "sing the Teletubbies theme and it would be fairly mournful" and it is this gorgeous instrument, melded to remixer du jour Ewan Pearson's crisp, club-influenced production, that has resulted in Out Of The Woods being a quite stunning collection of choice pop cuts.
Throughout, Thorn effortlessly glides between her two musical specialities - reflective folk and joyous italo-disco influenced pop - meaning it is her and her perceptive lyrics that remain at the forefront of her album, never being smothered by Pearson and her other collaborators. Hands Up To The Ceiling and Nowhere Near supply those intimate, soundtrack to a lonely Sunday watching the rain moments for which Thorn has few equals.
But Out Of The Woods soars at its most optimistic, electro-soul moments, as best seen on recent single It's All True - all plink-plonk Eighties electronic percussion and euphoric declarations of love - a Didn't Know I Was Looking For Love for 2007 if ever there was one. The deep and sparse house of Grand Canyon screams Ibiza classic while a cover of Arthur Russell's Get Around To It is transformed into a warm, groove-led funk-pop workout. Most startling, perhaps, is album closer Raise The Roof (a hymn to Ben Watt's DJing, perhaps?). Thorn's voice soars gloriously over a mash up of early Eighties soul, a squelchy electro-dub bassline and swooping space-funk synth effects that shift effortlessly between the joyous and the melancholic - just as all the best pop should.
This really is some comeback. After five years off to raise a family, Thorn has returned with what is probably the best work of her career. Another 25 year wait for the next solo effort would be far too long.
