I had heard good things about this one, and while I was a bit skeptical, I eventually found myself with dishes to do, and nothing else new on my mp3 player. So!
The obvious reference points here are Bjork and Laurie Anderson, as Kate revels in bizarre dreamworlds, highly affected crooning, and icy, repetitive electronic structures. And actually, it kind of works. It is strangely haunting, the opener and Cloudbursting in particular building to spacious, spooky climaxes. The synths make it sound dated from time to time, but for the most part, it creates a world unto itself.
It gets a bit too experimental near the end, making gestures that don't really work, and that don't (at least by my ear today) break any particularly new ground. Under Ice isn't is scary as it wants to be, and the spooky whispering and Irish flavor of Jig of Life is exactly the kind of thing I was fearing from this album. It rang hokey to me.
I don't know that I have a whole lot of use for this, but it has aged surprisingly well - its no wonder that The Hold Steady make a prominent reference to the first song, and The Futureheads covered the second 3.5/5
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