It’s pretty funny to see the NME presenting the likes of their New Acoustic Movement over the past year or so, pushing the likes of bands like ALFIE as though it was some incredible new sensitive idea to combat today’s prevalent laddishness.
Well, this seems pretty ridiculous when you consider that leading UK independent Cherry Red (in the years before independent mutated into "indie") were showcasing some superbly intuitive and largely acoustic-based music back at the dawn of the 1980s: a time when most gentle singer/songwriters were viewed with much suspicion by a press and public staggering away from New Wave.
Get hold of Cherry Red’s legendary "Pillows And Prayers" compilation and you’ll see what I mean, or more specifically, check out the pre-EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL releases by both BEN WATT or TRACEY THORN, the latter with or without THE MARINE GIRLS.
Actually, make that without for now, because Thorn’s great "A Distant Shore" – an economic, tantalisingly short 8-track solo debut – leaves you in no doubt that she’d go on to enjoy numerous successes, both with EBTG and guesting with the likes of MASSIVE ATTACK.
A quintessential example of the beauty of introspective, stripped down songwriting, "A Distant Shore" showcases purely Tracey and her nimble-fingered acoustic picking; captured frills-free by engineer Pat Bermingham and housed in a fragile, pastel sleeve drawing by fellow MARINE GIRL Jane Fox.
Although in terms of brevity, wistfulness and perfectly-recorded acoustic picking, an obvious forerunner of "A Distant Shore" would be Nick Drake’s glorious "Pink Moon". However, seeing as "A Distant Shore" clocks in at under the 20 minute mark (about 10 minutes less than Drake’s) and it lacks the same eerie sense of foreboding, maybe such a comparison is odious.
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Actually, "A Distant Shore" is initially every bit as "Dreamy" as one of its’ titles suggests and catches an (already maturing) songwriting talent emerging unadorned. Indeed, while Tracey sings "subtlety is always lost on me" before duetting with herself on the opening "Small Town Girl", this is an album that’s full of gentle twists and one you’ll enjoy unravelling at your leisure.
And, while songs like "Simply Couldn’t Care" and "Seascape" initially let you bathe in the jazzy atmospheres and Thorn’s breathy, close-miked voice, there are a few spiky, personal undercurrents here. During "Simply Couldn’t Care" she gets quite irked, singing "so get angry, prove your point!", while in "Seascape" she’s more resigned, announcing "I don’t wan’t to be saved" as she ponders the sea’s ever-shifting secrets.
The only non-original is a faithful cover of LOU REED’ s "Femme Fatale", a little quicker than the blueprint, with a smidge less suggestiveness and Tracey’s vocal again double-tracked. Nonetheless, it doesn’t spoil the poise of "A Distant Shore" in the slightest.
So, although you might mistakenly dismiss "A Distant Shore" as a slight, fey thing, return to it a few times and its’ inherent charms become more than apparent and you realise its’ no surprise its’ protagonist is still in very good shape artistically a good two decades down the line, when she could always beguile you this easily.
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