If youΓÇÖre a fan of dark, wrist-slashing lyrics delivered with a voice so airy and unemotional (not to mention sensual) it could float away, the debut from EnglandΓÇÖs Black Box Recorder should make your ΓÇ£best of ΓÇÖ99ΓÇ¥ list. It doesnΓÇÖt take long (15 seconds, maybe) to realize that the band--the AuteursΓÇÖ Luke Haines, ex-Jesus and Mary Chain/Expressway drummer John Moore, and vocalist Sarah Nixey--have hit on a style that fits so well, itΓÇÖs hard to believe this is the trioΓÇÖs first release.
NixeyΓÇÖs seductive, conversational singing is the ultimate drug--letting the knife slide in that much easier when she hammers away at ΓÇ£dreary old England,ΓÇ¥ love, and life itself (ΓÇ£Life is unfair/kill yourself or get over itΓÇ¥). If the Kinks poked fun at British society, BBR fires rounds of poisonous darts. In the title track, she starts off killing bugs (ΓÇ£I trapped a spider underneath glass/I kept it for a week to see how long heΓÇÖd lastΓÇ¥), but soon graduates to humans (ΓÇ£I had a dream last night, that I was drunk/I killed a stranger and left him in a trunkΓÇ¥).
The instrumental accompaniment is sparse and precise (unlike the Auteurs), and would make for a good listen (or movie soundtrack) on its own, notably ΓÇ£Up Town Top RankingΓÇ¥ and ΓÇ£Hated Sunday,ΓÇ¥ while titles like ΓÇ£Child Psychology,ΓÇ¥ ΓÇ£ItΓÇÖs Only The End Of The World,ΓÇ¥ and ΓÇ£Kidnapping An HeiressΓÇ¥ donΓÇÖt disappoint. The U.S. version contains four U.K. singles and B-sides not on the U.K. release.
