Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Sunday at Devil Dirt
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Artist: Isobel Campbell & Mark LaneganBrand: CAMPBELL,ISOBEL
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2008-11-18
Music Label: Fontana Int'l
Soundtracks:
- Seafaring Song
- The Raven
- Salvation
- Who Built the Road
- Come on Over (Turn Me On)
- Back Burner
- The Flame That Burns
- Shotgun Blues
- Keep Me in Mind, Sweetheart
- Something to Believe
- Trouble
- Sally, Don't You Cry
- Fight Fire with Fire [*]
- Asleep on a Sixpence [*]
- Violin Tango [*]
- Rambling Rose, Clinging Vine [*]
- Hang On [*]
Music reviews of Sunday at Devil Dirt
Music Review: Solid Work : An Album that Defied the Odds
Rating: 4 Stars
Isobel Campbell has a very interesting interview online where she talks about "Sunday at Devil Dirt" and how difficult it was to get it released. Both she and Mark Lanegan worked hard on this record, but Isobel was nearly down and out financially halfway through the record, and invested her remaining savings into actually completing it. Add to that the clashes with the record label, actually releasing the album, and finding that it didn't do that well commercially. You have to remember that this album was initially released only in the UK (with a shorter tracklisting and different cover-art), but when it was finally (like a miracle) picked up for US Distribution, Isobel went back to the vaults and added on songs she thought should have been there in the first place. What we have now is the definitive "Sunday at Devil Dirt", easily the best collaborative effort Isobel has ever worked on.
I first discovered her in 2003, when I bought "Amorino" simply based on one review from an independent music magazine. That album remains Isobels' crowning achievement (even better than her work with Belle & Sebastian), but its ironic that her solo work is decidedly more evolved that her work with groups or other people. "Milk White Sheets", her second solo album, was mellower and more gentle than her debut, but it lacked a certain something.
When she first collaborated with Lanegan on "Ballad of the Broken Seas" from a few years ago, reviewers were positive only because of the sharp contrasts in their voices - Isobels' feathery whispers contrasted beautifully with Lanegans' Tom Waits-esque husky delivery. Their voices are on two extremes of the human vocal cord - and its exactly this stark difference that makes their recordings so vital, so interesting.
"Sunday at Devil Dirt" has been expanded for its North American release, and thats a good thing. Five songs : Fight Fire With Fire, Asleep On a Sixpence, Violin Tango, Rambling Rose, Clinging Vine and Hang On; have been added, and the album feels more spacial, more sprawling. The downside is that the first four tracks have a sense of 'sameness' to them, which is what I believe has prompted some reviewers to claim that 'all the songs sound alike'. This is in part true, especially if you are not used to this sort of ambient music that has roots in acoustic folk & Americana.
The best way to describe the work of Isobel and Mark to a layman is to compare it to the Australian track "Where the Wild Roses Grow" by Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave, from the 1990s. That song almost serves as a blueprint for every track here - as the melodies - be it jazz, alternative country, or just plain bluegrass - are all stripped of genre and made to sound virtually alike - in the context of THIS album, this method actually works, as the entire albums functions as some sort of elaborate setpiece for a road movie, or better still, your own personal roadtrip.
Isobel Campbell is definitely one of the most underrated and under-appreciated musicians of this century. Reading her almost self-deprecating interviews, I doubt even she knows how good she actually is. Between her studio albums ("Amorino" and "Milk White Sheets"), her work with Bill Wells (an obscure 2002 album called "Ghost of Yesterday" featuring smoky jazz covers), and her work as The Gentle Waves (an ambient band that composes pastoral masterworks set to minimal vocals), she is certainly an artist who works well with what shes given. If youre new to her, check out "Amorino" first, and then experiment with some of my suggestions above.
"Sunday at Devil Dirt" could well be the Album of 2009, bested perhaps only by "Noble Beast" by Andrew Bird. Its certainly deserving of a purchase, and merits an instant spot in your indie-music record collection.
Four Stars.
Description of Sunday at Devil Dirt
US edition of their 2008 album includes five bonus tracks over the previously available imported edition. Bonus tracks, Fight Fire With Fire, Asleep On a Sixpence, Violin Tango, Rambling Rose, Clinging Vine and Hang On. Sunday at Devil Dirt is second full-length collaboration between the former Belle & Sebastian member (Campbell) and Mark Lanegan, the Screaming Trees frontman and part-time QOTSA vocalist. Recorded between studios in the Catskills and Isobel's native Glasgow, Sunday At Devil Dirt is an album of dust bitten ballads and troubled wanderings, easily the equal of its predecessor. Again, Campbell and Lanegan complement each other beautifully, like silk on cracked leather. While continuing to mine the same rich seam of Alt-Country, Folk and Blues of their debut, the new record also embraces a dusty southern gothic, while a sultry, jazzy feel is evident on a number of tracks. As with their debut, the album has been written, produced and arranged by Isobel Campbell, with Lanegan providing lead vocal duties.Alternative Rock CDs
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