Deborah Conway: Green Guide - CD of the week
CD of the Week by Shaun CarneyExquisite Stereo - Deborah Conway (Shock)
As a musician, Deborah Conway has always been a risk-taker and her new album is a bold piece of work, even for her. Aside from the catchy dalliance with irony, Radio Loves This, the bulk of Exquisite Stereo is brooding, brittle and a long way from easy listening.On the title track, Conway's voice is immersed in white noise and layered over a galloping beat (courtesy of the Augie March rhythm section) before Neil Finn, sweet as a songbird, drifts in with the ethereal chorus.
Elsewhere Conway flirts with New Order-style pop (She's coming for it), blends dubs and moody industrial sounds (Freeway is Falling) and crams feedback and voices into a confined space (I Lay My Head Down on My Pillow and I Cried all Night).
All Up, Conway and partner Willy Zygier, now operating independantly of major labels, embark on a sonic adventure without recourse to the need for a hit single.
And Exquisite Stereo works 90 percent of the time. There's a tendency to indulge in the slow burn, with slow verses building up to apocalyptic choruses, a little too often but that's probably an accurate reflection of Conway's personality as a performer anyway. A class act.
added Monday, 23 August, 2004
