Tracey Thorn is one of the most distinctive of all English voices. Moving on towards forty years from the point when she first appeared as one of Stern Bops and then The Marine Girls, that voice has thickened and deepened with time and experience but she maintains a specific strength and dignity. Now she sings with the determined but weary perspective middle age. As with so many records from those who first made their name in the eighties, Robert Forster, Pete Astor, Lloyd Cole, yes even Morrissey, it's interesting to hear how songwriters' preoccupations have moved on to tackle the concerns of dealing with being in the fifties
Tracey keeps things simple. Her new album is simply entitled Record and its songs and arrangements are plain and unadorned, underpinned by dance beats and instincts, informed by the great career sea change that Thorn's career with Everything but the Girl crucially took with Missing. Some of it sounds a bit ersatz and thin to my ears, but Thorn's magnificent voice is always there and these two songs definitely stand out from the pack on show on Record as new career milestones. She's still got lots to say.
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