This is a very pleasant slice of trip hop from singer, songwriter and blonde Anna Friel looky-likey Rachel Cuming and programmer, songwriter Lee Jones. I had heard that they were like Ruby or Portishead but they sound far more like Mandalay or Dot Allison (She sang on Death in Vegas’s Dirge if you don’t know her) to me. Maybe Goldfrapp without the theatricality. This is definitely mood music, nice stuff to have going on in the background. Rachel sings throughout with an air of indifference - as if distanced from the subject matter.

There are no surprises here. But that doesn’t seem to be the point. The tunes are relaxing and unobtrusive, more something to lay back and mellow out to rather than dance or scrutinise. There are the odd Jazz flourishes that interestingly break the flow, but never the mood of the album.

If you like this then try Empathy the first album by Mandalay or Dot Allison’s solo debut CD Afterglow.

Label: V2
Release date: 18th March 2002

Tracklist:

1. Magpie
2. Stay here
3. What gives with you
4. City for us
5. Start the song backwards
6. Blue for the most
7. For all the times
8. Heather
9. Freedom’s when
10. On a plane
11. Ever so slowly