Black Box Recorder

You take the good, you take the Badalamenti -- anyone who thinks The Facts of Life includes half-baked songs without meat is missing the point. Would you consider dumping a bucket of lime green paint on that new marble countertop in your kitchen nook? Didn't think so. That's pretty much what you'd be doing to Black Box Recorder's second LP if you feel the tunes need more substance. Half-baked? Not in the least; The Facts of Life is a fresh wedge of sourdough (dourdough?), just as simple but more tasty. Luke Haines and John Moore get the most mileage possible out of their sparse, noir-tinged melancholia, rarely needing extraneous things like overdubs or distortion for the sake of it. Sarah Nixey increases her stock as a worthy Bond siren, less kitschy and more swaggerly than that other Sarah. Like the finest charms of songs by the other Sarah's St. Etienne, "Weekend" carries its weight as a gorgeous, slightly upbeat pop song. You want catchy simplicity? Try a chorus of "Friday night/Saturday morning," with Haines' hypnotically shimmering guitar spirals to add accent. Flashes of Haines' tasteful glam jones run rampant in "Straight Life," which slyly references Roxy Music in a number of ways. The play on Roxy Music's "Street Life" is apparent in the title, as well as having lyrical nods to Roxy's "In Every Dream Home a Heartache." Seemingly embracing middle class Englishness while simultaneously rejecting it, Nixey ponders escaping transient lifestyles while grimacing at the thought of home repairs. Black Box Recorder is a master of the simple, effective melody (as are Haines' Auteurs). Also, not too many vocalists possess Nixey's ridiculous skill at making sheer boredom sound so affecting. If David Lynch should ever film a TV series in England, here are the soundtrack composers. "Hey folks, have you seen Angelo Badalamenti and Julee Cruise?" Sorry mate, we dropped them off at Big Ed's Gas Farm. They're in a bag, wrapped in plastic. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide