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Avg: 4.5 (77 ratings)
- Date Released: September 9, 2008
- Genre: Alternative/Punk
- Style: Singer-Songwriter
- Label: Rough Trade / Beggars Group
Emiliana could wring tears from a turnip
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We Say...
Underestimate Emiliana Torrini at your own risk. Go ahead with all the lazy comparisons you want (her countrywoman Björk, Goldfrapp, Santogold, Regina Spektor, etc.), go ahead and focus on her collaborators (Dan Carey, GusGus, Bill Callahan from Smog, Tears for Fears' Roland Orbazal) if you must. But Torrini has a voice all her own, as a songwriter and as a singer. And this record is a bold statement — strange but accessible, hooky yet dangerous.
Conventional wisdom would probably be to start your assessment with the title track — which was also the first single — and this wouldn’t be a horrible idea. Its reggae-lite groove is easy on the ears, and her charmingly-accented voice is on beautiful display. In fact, it’s all so pretty that you might not realize how terrifying this portrait of obsessive love actually is. There are several other songs here where Torrini masks her dark lyrical content in perfect melodies; “Birds” and “Bleeder” are both gorgeous electro-folk compositions that repay close listening a hundredfold, and the final section of “Beggar’s Prayer,” in which she becomes an entire soul choir, could wring tears from a turnip.
But if you really want to understand what Emiliana Torrini is capable of, “Jungle Drum” is the way to go. It's a fiery minimalist neo-rockabilly number — underpinned by some savvy understated effects from Carey — with some hot lyrics: “Man, you got me burning/ I’m the moment between the striking and the fire/ Hey, read my lips/ Cause all they say is kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss.” Not only does she sound credible and sexy singing words like this, she also pulls off some superb vocal percussion in the breaks.
There is even weirder stuff here. “Gun” is a haunter, all echoes and exposed nerve endings and tense guitar lines; the sketch is so fevered that it really doesn’t matter who shoots who. The skewed techno-waltz of “Dead Duck” sets off the scaredy-cat indie-folk of “Ha-Ha” and the Gnarls Barkley-sounding “Heard It All Before.” There’s a child’s garden of odd growing here, but you can just groove on the lovely sounds if you want to. And you will. -
They Say...
Emiliana Torrini reprises her relationship with producer/songwriter Dan Carney on Me and Armini, which mixes fingerplucked folk with elements of jazz, dancehall, electronica, and summery pop. Splitting the difference between the intimate acoustics of 2005's Fisherman's Woman and the trip-hop experiments on Love in the Time of Science, Me and Armini finds room for Torrini to flex all of her muscles. She's a sultry mistress on "Gun," peppering the verses with blasts of hot breath cloaked in echo. It's a surprisingly sexy performance -- almost feline, not unlike something by the Kills -- with a muted guitar riff that threatens to explode into noisy catharsis but stubbornly keeps its composure. Elsewhere, Torrini tones down the heat in favor of winsome innocence, mimicking a percussive instrument on "Jungle Drum" and filling "Big Jumps" with strings of endearing doop-de-doop vocals and a commercial pop chorus. Several songs also cement her musical connection to Björk -- an easy link to make, perhaps, given the women's shared Icelandic heritage, but a factual one nevertheless -- and tunes like "Birds" and "Heard It All Before" show that both singers employ similar vocal ticks. Elsewhere, Torrini's material evokes the jazzy cadence of Inara George or even the reggae-tinged swagger of Lily Allen, particularly on the album's breezy title track. Yet comparisons to other artists don't quite do Emiliana Torrini justice, as she's carved out her own sonic space over the course of several albums. With its wide array of genres -- all executed with earnestness and confidence -- Me and Armini emerges as an album suitable for bookworms and beach bunnies, homebodies and world travelers, dancers and wallflowers. Highly recommended.
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| 01. |  |
Fireheads |
3:44 |
|
| 02. | |
Me And Armini |
4:17 |
|
| 03. | |
Birds |
6:23 |
|
| 04. | |
Heard It All Before |
4:13 |
|
| 05. | |
Ha Ha |
3:15 |
|
| 06. | |
Big Jumps |
3:01 |
|
| 07. | |
Jungle Drum |
2:13 |
|
| 08. | |
Hold Heart |
2:04 |
|
| 09. | |
Gun |
5:45 |
|
| 10. | |
Beggar’s Prayer |
2:55 |
|
| 11. | |
Dead Duck |
5:36 |
|
| 12. | |
Bleeder |
4:50 |
|
12 Total Tracks, 48:16 Total Length
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