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Welcome to a new edition of the Daily Music Picks newsletter!
Today’s music pick is a return to form for a talented duo nearly 30 years after their commercial apex.
Genre: Electronic, House
Label: Buzzin’ Fly
Release Date: April 21, 2023
Vibe: 🙇
It’s hard to imagine a more moving, precisely constructed vehicle for what Everything But the Girl does best than Fuse. Released 24 years after their previous effort, Temperamental, it balances the sense of sadness and fear in the group’s other work while doing away with most of the cynicism, opting for the urge to connect. To be present with other people. To cope with other people. “I need a thicker skin/This pain keeps getting in/Tell me what to do/'Cause I've always listened to you,” Tracey Thorn sings on opener “Nothing Left to Lose,” before issuing a command: “Kiss me while the world decays/Kiss me while the music plays.”
The glowing, almost sultry nature of her vocals is framed by Ben Watts’ moody, chilling instrumentals that keep one foot firmly planted in the 90s club sound they’ve become known for while dipping several toes into contemporary deep and tech house mores. The album’s sound comes together most impressively on “Caution to the Wind,” the type of gloomy anthem that sounds utterly timeless, and the closer “Karaoke,” where Thorn asks if you sing to “heal the broken-hearted” or “get the party started.”
Turns out, on this record, you can do both, sometimes in the same breath.
👉 Don’t forget to click the album image to stream the album on your favorite platform 👈
Got thoughts on this album? Did you love it? Sound off in the comments.