Maggie Connell The Luxury Of Sadness

Connell is a former member of 70s new wavers the Heaters, but this is her audacious solo debut. Its ten tracks were recorded completely solo at her home and sweetened with a few studio overdubs. She co-produced and even provided the artwork. The Luxury boasts a big, thick, idiosyncratic sound and a wealth of unconventional song structures. Its arty as hell and filled with plenty of drama, oblique lyrics and musical left turns. There are spoken passages, samples and skewed vocals. The overdubbed multiple vocal lines overlap and intersect, while song titles like "Diagram Of Rage and "I Wish I Was Alice give you a hint at what to expect. If you want comparisons, think a less self-conscious Tori Amos, or maybe Kate Bush, with the helium in her vocals replaced by argon. Other recognisable influences include the Beach Boys, Captain Beefheart, Pink Floyd, Sinead OConnor, and Siouxsie & the Banshees. "I Slip On Rainbows is psychedelic, non-linear and totally mesmerising; I cant get enough of it. "I Eat Children is deliciously black-humoured. If you had described the record to me the way Im describing it to you, Id be prepared to despise it. Instead, Im completely entranced. Normally something this leftfield, and were talking the culvert in the rail yard behind the parking on the other side of the bullpen here, cant help but sound contrived and self-conscious, but theres not a whiff of that here, its utterly compelling. (Frigidisk)