April 16, 2010

Album Review: Shakespears Sister - 'Songs From The Red Room' (Cargo)

A kitsch success harnessing the best of late electro

7 / 10 Back in 1992, Shakespears Sister released succulent duet ‘Stay’, the only chart-topper in the history of goth: similarly mordant fare loads the rich table of ‘Songs…’. For this unexpected late flowering, though, the histrionics of that Number One are replaced by nail-scratch electronics, Siobhan Fahey’s voice flapping above turrets of synths manned by robots in pointy brassieres. It’s a slightly kitsch success, harnessing the best of late electro to Fahey’s spells. Stand-out track ‘Bad Blood’ might mark the first moment when someone has attempted to combine the delirious vocal melody of Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ with the garrulous fizz of The Fall in their poppiest phase.

Luke Turner

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