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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 1991)
kes This Mortal Coil offers ethereal, dark music By Kevin Robinson The Battalion i to do (lit iking it s to COIti ra ham saidj they ait termgoini TV /r ent ion British indie label impact." "P|\/ I 4AD to any import music >ed to For J-VJLbuff and a dominant d System image immediately ap- t i n ^pj; pears in their heads. For the past s letter i ' en Y ears ' records has dili- realigne- 8 entl y cultivated a loyal cult fol- lant'smo *°wing by sticking to a tried and ut in plat * rueformula - Music Review )usandsoi the poss:- because off hvidual ai it allowec 1 efficient ocess. als wante; the con p u jj together lush, ethereal or- nsiders tk chestrations, a soothing female vo- •ty, and ^ ca i U sed as an instrument in itself, [ package all this in the dark, but t° she: tauntingly beautiful photography , plantfe,a nc i artvvcjrk of Vaughan Oliver, “lageofthfj anc j a dci the the relatively limited n findir availability of 4AD releases (al- taskssuci most all are available only as ’ 3ircraft'British imports) and the formula *• |for underground success is made, is been or| Exceptions to these rules, such >nal strut as Boston band the Pixies and Ul- nmpleaniil tr a Vivid Scene are rare. Howev- nge, how-Br, there is still room for artistic In a phr; g row th and development, as the usanrkf new re i ease f rom This Mortal toil shows. Blood is the latest from This tlortal Coil, till now more a label project than a real band. The first tlbum. It’ll End In Tears was more fbr less a collaboration between embers of the Cocteau Twins, ead Can Dance, Wolfgang Press, nd others. Although an interesting con cept, the various members prought little of the feeling and spark of their own work to the ik is cor project. As a result, the album ze in thsi turned out to be little more than a can bank; dull mess. s admin On the second album. Filigree off bank and Shadow, project producers Ivo aterprise Watts-Russell and John Fryer reforms, brought in vocalists Louise and r head o: nge. Thf aid the!' inv s a majoij axchangcj dco Cifyj ^y- Wednesday, August 28, 1991 Lifestyles The Battalion ■F/ Page 13 Deidre Rutkowski to do most of the singing on the album. Al though the actual music was still mostly a collective hodgepodge, the project was gaining unity in its direction and quality increased dramatically over the previous ef fort. With Blood. Watts-Russell and Fryer take the next step in the pro gression. They themselves take on the writing duties for half of the album's twenty-one songs. Dei dre and Louise Rutkowski are joined by the folksy vocals of Car oline Crawley. The result is the definite best of the three albums and possibly the best 4AD release in quite a while. Blood, takes This Mortal Coil into a previously unexplored gui tar oriented sound. Sure, the fune real orchestrations are still here and such tracks as "Help Me Lift You Up" still dabble in new-age synth soundscapes. But the over all tone of the group this time is more upbeat, using their usual cel lo and violin and synth to approx imate more conventional pop melodies. Stand out tracks are abundant on the album. "Mr. Somewhere" sounds like it should have been written by Suzanne Vega and uses an acoustic guitar and cello to get a folksy, barroom effect. Kim Deal of the Pixies and Tanya Donnelly of Throwing Muses do guest vocals on "You and Your Sister", a track much better than anything on the two's previous collaboration, the disap pointing Breeders album. On "I Come and Stand at Ev ery Door", Louise Rutkowski uses an intensely powerful vocal style that had me checking the liner notes to make sure Sinead O'Con ner wasn't doing a guest appear ance. She wasn't, but the song is very reminiscent of The Lion and the Cobra era Sinead. And, "I am the Cosmos" , the album's one real rock song, con tains both a driving electric guitar See Mortal/Page 14 Music Advance Trout Fishing In America Live Music Trout Fishing, Root 1 to perform at AnNam Ezra Idlet and Keith Grimwood of Trout Fishing in America will perform at AnNam Tea House's 'Labor Day Weekend Festival.' The two- man band is popular for its acoustic rock inter twined with comedy. T. F. I. A. will play Friday at 9 p.m. Cover is $6. Kicking of the 'Labor Day Fest' is progres sive rock bands S.T.-37 and Hope on Thursday night at 9 p.m. $3 cover. On Saturday, the reggae and world beat sounds of Root 1 will pulsate from the Tea House. The former members of the Killer Bees will play at 9 p.m. Cover is $4. Plan a new look at the Tea House, which is currently closed for remodeling. Lunch and dinner will resume on Tuesday, September 3. Also on Tuesday the Tea House will host a 'Welcome Back to School Party.' Four local bands will perform, starting at 9 p.m. Cover is $1. For more information, call 846-2898. OCT. LSAT There’s still time to get into the nation’s best LSAT Prep course. Class begins August 31st, but we’re flexible. 1-800-749-6336 THE. PRINCETON REVIEW. We Score More/ Recommended... 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