Everything But the Girl is the British collaboration of Tracey Thorn's alto and Ben Watt's phat beats. The duo is best known for bass-bumping DJ remixes of their love ballads. Todd Terry transformed "Missing" in '95 into a disco anthem, and Omni Trio revamped "Wrong" in '96. But "Temperamental" proves Watt capable of spinning heavy house beats as well as the duo's remixers.
Although EBTG has made a splash with its singles, its albums invite praise too. Ben Watt is experienced behind the turntables. He's spun countless nights at clubs throughout London and the U.S.
EBTG is unique in an age permeated by vacuous electronica. It's pop, but with a nostalgic sincerity. In your local clubs you'll hear DJs sampling anonymous techno divas saying a whole lot of nothing.
In contrast, EBTG actually communicates deeper and more subtly nuanced emotion. When Thorn speaks to a lover with anguish and feeling, it sounds genuine, not artificial.
This genuineness is a case of two songwriters sticking to what they know best. The pair began crafting delicate, acoustic love songs about separation and joy in the mid-'80s. These same sincere, aching themes lend their contemporary house tracks a rare emotional gravity.
The tracks are true songs, each with a beginning, middle and end, rather than the endless repitition of catch phrases.
The single "Blame" resonates with post-relationship grief. The quick breakbeats, car-like horns, and churning groans make it one of the album's best.
"Hatfield 1980" recreates Radiohead's feelings of modern loss two decades in the past. It travels through the British suburban landscape, documenting parking lots, underpasses and supermarkets that smack of Thorn's existential anxiety. Unfortunately, the spacey "Aaah-aah" background vocals sound cliched.
What fits the duo into the contemporary understanding of the "British" is their connection to the much-celebrated British trip-hop auteurs, Massive Attack. The Massive Attack single "Protection" is haunted by Thorn's declaration, "Stand in front of you / I'll take the force of the blow."
This experience influenced EBTG's 1996 release of "Walking Wounded," an album that combined bass-heavy electronica with their repertoire.
"Temperamental" is in some ways a house extension of "Wounded." "Temperamental" cultivates a similar mix of dance tracks and songs you can listen to while cooking on a rainy day or having a drink with your significant other.
With "Temperamental," Thorn and Watt paint clubbing as simultaneously attractive and melancholic. Images of nighttime highs and daytime lows are found throughout the CD in songs like "Low Tide of the Night" and "Lullaby of Clubland."
The "hit single" of the album, "Five Fathoms," explores a walking-in-a-city-at-night theme. The speaker yearns to "love more" and employs analogies like "the days roll by like thunder." It's a fun, trite little club song that probably will not get as heavy rotation as EBTG's prior blockbuster singles.
The album is not without its sore spots. The single "Temperamental" has Thorn singing backup to herself in a waifish, stilted tone. She also uses stock refrains like "I don't want you to love me."
The single ends with what Thorn described in an interview as "tiny fragments of [her] voice as percussion." These random voice modifications sound outdated after Cher's "Believe" saturated the airwaves for months.
The pair still leans on the crutch of outside remixers. Deep Dish twiddles the mixing knobs on "The Future of the Future," adding high end twinkle and pop that give the song a millenial flutter.
Except for minor scratches on an otherwise stellar CD, EBTG have managed to outdo themselves this time around. It's a personal best.
