Annette Farrington: Azure Wonder And Lust.
http://drawbridge.com

1. Magic
2. Viva
3. Dive
4. I Might Not Be Here
5. Let The World Go Away
6. Exotica
7. I Don’t Want It
8. Rhapsody
9. Black Man’s Daughter
10. Symphonic

The cover artwork for “Azure Wonder and Lust” features
paper cutouts of jungle flora and fauna covering a
blurry photograph of trees. The whole thing is
encased in a lovely clear purple jewelcase. It’s a
melding of commerce, organic and manipulated imagery,
perfect for this God-is-in-the-pixels project.
Annette Farrington is the ex-goth singer Annette
Kramer of Opium Den, reborn as a techno-pagan.
Vestiges of the ‘ethereal gothic’ sound of her band
remain—the ominous Middle Eastern melody of the album
opener “Magic”, the soaring vocals, and the mystical
lyrics. But it’s all submerged in swirling stew of
electronic gadgetry provide by producer Anthony Resta.
These two disparate forces are where the tension of
the album lies. Farrington’s roots are dark: she’s
influenced the aesthetic of Curve, Siouxsie Sioux, and
Portishead. Resta, however, is a seasoned pro, and
shows; his shaping lend the recording a more pop
sensibility—a more energetic Dido, or an electronic
version of Sarah McLachlan. When these two styles
mesh, the result is entertaining. “Viva”, for
instance, is both boy-band catchy and suitably
angelic. “Exotica,” on the other hand, suffers from a
melodic line that’s a bit too mainstreamed. That song
also features a pointillist guitar figure that
disrupts the carefully crafted electronic/acoustic
impressionism. Farrington’s obtuse imagery and
sinuous, warm delivery, however, prevent the CD from
straying too far into blandness. Wonder, lust and the
bitmapped jungle theme of title and artwork come to
fruition in such compositions as “Black Man’s
Daughter” and the appropriatley titled closer,
“Symphonic.”





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n.r. "A Trip to the Stars," by Nicholas Christopher; just finished "A Home at
the End of the World," by Michael Cunningham.

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