AUDIOJUNKIE: Track-by-track: Everything But The Girl's 'Fuse'


Everything But The Girl
Having said so, “Time And Time Again” is where these two lines of thought meet. A sashaying middle ground, a pick-me-up before things get too contemplative. Ben Watt’s piano keyboard skills are still aces and it’s in full display in “No One Knows We’re Dancing” as said tune holds the tempo of the previous song. If you want to see Ben Watt in action, check out the pair’s recent performance in BBC 6 Music A-List Playlist. Long time EBTG listeners would at this point in the album would notice that Tracey Thorn’s voice has changed. The singer herself has admitted that her vocals have always been changing in the course of her career. It has definitely done so, yet it is a familiar voice. It start’s off noticeably at the onset but by the time upbeat “Forever” comes, shades of the robust and low-voiced Tracey Thorn of 20-plus years ago is there once more. Admittedly that it was by way of the sophisti-pop era EBTG that endeared me to the Watt-Thorn partnership. That’s why slow but beautiful sounding “Lost” is such a fast favorite. Meanwhile those who want to learn Ben Watt’s style should listen to this; with his tasteful layering of keyboards, from wheezy organ sounds that dictate the feel fused with acoustic pianos, it’s a masterclass in knowing one instrument, but being good at making-many-sounds-with-it style of arrangement. Watt mentioned that he wrote the next track “Interior Space” as an atmospheric “improvised piano ballad” on his iPhone. Crazy good skills. “Fuse” ends relaxed with last track “Karaoke” which might sound their usual pensive, but seems like a nod to what Everything But The Girl has been doing all these decades. The lyric goes: ‘do you sing to heal the broken hearted faces on the wall? / or do you sing to get the party started or not at all?’ We know the answer to that of course.