Everything but the Girl
As a chronicle of love's demise, the English duo's new album matches the eloquence of Marvin Gaye's Here, My Dear, a 1978 opus in which Gaye documented the disintegration of his 12-year marriage to Anna Gordy and its turbulent aftermath. EBTG's Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn, who are a happily unwedded couple, are "walking wounded" only in their dreams. But what vivid imaginations they have! Watt creates tension by merging syncopated jungle rhythms, splashes of techno and rumbling hip-house grooves. Thorn, in turn, tempers her blue mood with sarcastic wit in "Big Deal": "You spend four nights a week now/ Looking for your inner child/ What you gonna say when you find him/ Suppose you don't like him/ Or he doesn't like you." Moments like this make EBTG's bittersweet love hangover an intoxicating thrill. (Atlantic)
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