Love and Its Opposite

Tracey Thorn is a really talented story-teller

When the English singer Tracey Thorn came back with her triumphal 2007’s album Out Of The Woods, the audience was pleasantly surprised to get an energy charge filling each of the new tracks. A mixture of disco, folk and soul proved to be so dynamic, that it was hard to imagine the singer devoting her time only to her children for more than a decade. Her voice remained the same touching and emotional as before and the choice of songs deserved praise as well. Such a promising comeback could easily mean that Tracey decided to work with some livelier genres but if you supposed that Out Of The Woods’ follow-up would be no less eclectic you are deeply wrong. Tracey Thorn is not used to being predictable, and her new record Love And Its Opposite proves to be a complete contrast to the second album. This time we hear a mature, experienced woman reflecting calmly and very elegantly on her own age, on people surrounding her, on children, relationships and romantics. Tracey’s gentle and wonderfully emotional voice refines every song here, and this time around the singer has proved to be a really talented story-teller.

Personal wisdom on Love And Its Opposite

They often call mature singers who have just turned 20– the question is what adjective suits best to characterize Tracey Thorn who does know what she is talking about in her songs. This is especially true about the Oh, The Divorces!, the opener on Love And Its Opposite, telling about breaking families with a waltzing piano accompaniment. Fortunately Tracey’s personal life is going well, but there are divorced couples among her friends, and the fact naturally cannot be left without attention. A deep analysis of marriage on the story Long White Dress will serve a good lesson for all young couples, whereas parent will agree with many statements on Hormones telling about the generation gap. A romantic melody Kentish Town is one of the most beautiful moments on the album, pleasing with Tracey’s strong vocals and sad lyrics. After a number of slow reflective compositions almost a danceable song Why Does The Wind?, the only echo of the previous record, sounds awakening and yet does not allow one to distract due to the interesting thoughts in the text. Another surprise is the duet with the Swedish musician Jens Lekman Come On Home (a cover of Lee Hazlewood’s song), psychedelic, darkish and full of mystics, it reminds of Nick Cave and Bat For Lashes’ works. A touching number Singles Bar paints a very realistic picture: a relationship is over; you are lonely once again and have to go on dates with new people now. The album closes with a great bonus Child Star filled with love of children and childhood in general.

Beautiful, smart and sincere music

The recording of the album Love And Its Opposite took place in Berlin and London, and several guest musicians participated in it: Hot Chip’s Al Doyle, The Invisible’s Leo Taylor and Los Valentinos’ guitarist Jono. The quality of arrangements once again carried out by the producer Ewan Pearson lets the listeners enjoy each of these most beautiful tunes, and Tracey Thorn’s vocals still caress the ear. The chosen themes would hardly serve a good base for a different performer’s album – it is Thorn’s voice and her unique manner of performance that make the record Love And Its Opposite interesting at its very least. Despite all the expectances the singer’s summer album turns out to be very soft, gentle and touching with the exception of a couple of moments, when some toughness and strength appear in her voice. There is no use trying to guess what is going to happen next: perhaps, it is high time that the band Everything But The Girl once again lets us hear from it, or maybe Tracey and her husband will put a full stop here. Anyway, the artist has already given us two completely different albums in the new millennium, which is a great present and beautiful, smart and sincere music.