No one expected Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt to announce they had made a new Everything But the Girl album, their first in over 20 years, but it was no shock it was this good. Born out the pandemic, “FUSE” picks up right where 1999’s “Temperamental” left off, blending elegant electronica and sophisticated ballads, while delivering a few new tricks as well. This may be the ultimate lockdown album, imbued with loss and mourning but embracing a “let’s make the rest count” energy. “Kiss me while the world decays,” Tracey Thorn sings on “Nothing Left to Lose,” her voice still EBTG’s greatest instrument and star attraction. “FUSE” should be a blueprint for any artist attempting a comeback and everything you could want in an Everything But the Girl album in 2023.
For 15 years as primary vocalist for the U.K. pop duo Everything But The Girl, Tracey Thorn brought a tenderness to even the most world weary of lyrical sentiments. But during the hiatus that that project went on following the release of 1999’s “Temperamental”, her voice has weathered beautifully, stained by wisdom, toughened through the experience of raising three children and given new depths via her solo releases and her series of best-selling memoirs. All of that comes to bear on “Nothing Left to Lose,” the first new music from Everything But the Girl in nearly a quarter-century.
The lyrics, written by Thorn’s partner in life and music Ben Watt, carry the echo of “Missing,” the song that lifted the group to new levels of fame in 1994, with its imagery of waiting outside a lover’s door pride be damned. What Thorn’s current voice brings to these words is resignation mixed with raw hunger. As Watt’s hip-house production bounces and wows around her, she perfectly embodies the sound of a soul looking for even a momentary dash of pleasure while, as she sings, “the world decays.
‘Nothing Left To Lose’, the first release from the forthcoming album, “Fuse”.
The Fat Angel Sings 