vacabou - s/t
all saints is, normally, a label that releases music by brian eno, harold budd and roger eno, in other words, it's an ambient label, so it is weird that in 2005 they release an album that dips into the world of cinematic pop and trip hop years after the whole genre of coffee table trip hop genre was laid to rest due to excessive exploitation from the likes of morcheeba, lamb, zero 7 etc.
however, absence makes the heart grow fonder, so, when the delicate combination of pascale saravelli (france), vocals, and juan feliu (spain), noises, starts, it's like checking up on an old friend whom you suddenly realise you have missed a lot more than originally believed. the songs are, naturally, downtempo, they do however, have a air of mystery and intrigue, alongside an unexpected innocence (there are times when the production makes you wonder if the rest of the world was ever meant to actually hear these songs), all of which is carried along by the subtle off kilter heavily reverbed cinematic electro enhanced music that surrounds the layered/doubled up vocals.
of course, you will flinch when the electric slide guitar strikes up on several tracks, but for every cliche there are moments of sheer aural wonder. whether it is the weirdly spliced up found vocals of 'rannveig', the bleepy advert soundtrack 'life as interference', or the classic pop styles of 'iceland' that makes you revisit this album, you begin to listen more carefully to the outer regions of the production, and end up hearing the unexpected touches that add a welcome layer of experimentation. amongst this playfulness, the duo, thankfully, always keep the focus on the actual song, none more so than on the acoustic guitar dominated 'blue glass highway' which drifts into areas of chilled excellent like the klf always promised, of the stripped down minimalism of 'angel of the night' that builds up to something quite special over the tracks 7 minutes (big guitar chords feature!).
all in all, this is a really fine slice of sublime girl fronted downtempo electro-pop that soundtracks the fall of night beautifully.