Everything But The Girl – ‘Fuse’ album review
At the beginning of the year, Everything But The Girl announced their return. Having originally set out in the 1980s as a jazz-pop outfit before developing a more dance-oriented sound, the duo had been dormant since 2000 and were excited to announce their brand new album, Fuse, alongside its thumping lead single, ‘Nothing Left To Lose’.
In Fuse, Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn have, indeed, remained relevant and up-to-date with modern trends. The lead single introduces a fresh, energetic garage beat deftly produced with Thorn’s towering vocal display. While danceable, the track maintains a macabre dimension allowing an immersive experience even for the stationary listeners among us.
Across the ten tracks, the album is punctuated by often dramatic tempo changes. ‘Run a Red Light’ and ‘When You Mess Up’ are slower, brooding songs that pose as boron control rods between the radioactive dance beats of neighbouring tracks ‘Nothing Left To Lose’, ‘Caution to the Wind’ and ‘Time and Time Again’.
The album’s danceable numbers prevail as its stronger moments with a delectable spread of contrasting synth textures to thank. ‘Caution to the Wind’ builds up slowly with a hand-clap that eventually submits to a head-bobbing techno beat apt for the ’90s rave scene. In the chorus, Thorn sings: “Caution to the wind/ Let me in/Let me in”.
‘No One Knows We’re Dancing’ tells a story involving Amy, who “works weekdays in a pet shop” and “mixes vodka with her cola”. Meanwhile, Peter, whose father is a lawyer for the EEU out of Munich, works “behind the bar” as the chorus soars: “It’s 5pm on Sunday/ No one knows we’re dancing/ Outside, the sun is blinding/ No one knows we’re dancing”. This thin-spread imagery recurs throughout the album, tessellating with the instrumentals to keep the mind aptly busy while not distracting one from the dance.
The album’s comparatively mellower moments take much of their inspiration, it would seem, from modern R&B music. In ‘When You Mess Up’ and ‘Lost’, we hear subdued beats with ethereal synth sounds. Meanwhile, the brooding vocals are laden with effects to create a digital, auto-tuned sound. While modern R&B of this nature isn’t traditionally to my taste, it’s admirable how Everything But The Girl have successfully kept things fresh after so many years.
In Fuse, Everything But The Girl have picked up where they left off with their last two albums, 1996’s Walking Wounded and 1999’s Temperamental. Continuing their latter dance incarnation, Thorn and Watt have evolved from the ’90s rave scene with an updated album influenced by modern house/techno and R&B styles. While some of these tracks aren’t up my street, I can appreciate the high production value and would be delighted to stumble across ‘Nothing Left To Lose’ or ‘Caution to the Wind’ in a Glastonbury dance tent. This is a welcome return for the duo, and I hope this album isn’t a one-off.
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