September 4, 1997
One of the most distinctive bands I've heard in a long, long time, Tindersticks has a dark brooding sound that makes their second full-length album a melancholic masterpiece. Hailing from Britain, Tindersticks shuns both the Brit-pop and electronic scenes you might expect for a dense, multi-layered orchestration of understated, intricate drumming, soaring string quintets, gurgling organs and the occasional shriek of a French horn.
Most arresting and integral to Tindersticks' sound are the impossibly deep and pensive vocals of Stuart Staples. Staples' voice recalls Leonard Cohen on Valium, and he shares more than guttural moans with Cohen; Staples' lyrical concerns are similarly despondent, though not without their share of black humor.
Staples bemoans broken relationships and crushed hopes to brilliant effect in "A Night In" and "Tiny Tears", the gently sawing strings lacing his pain with beauty. A tense, potent formula, and Tindersticks exploit it flawlessly.
This is an endlessly challenging, haunting album, from the stunning visceral punch of "El Diablo En El Ojo" to the dissonant violas of the claustrophobic instrumental "Vertrauen II" to the deadpan spoken word of "My Sister".
Existing at the crossroads of raw cacophony, moody chamber music and Cohenesque world-weariness, this ambitious sextet crafts an underworld that finds the dignity in pain and the beauty in sorrow. This is a unique, rewarding effort, not to be missed.
- Jared O'Connor
melancholy
masterpiece