Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Ballad of the Broken Seas

reviewed by anna battista

Many have been the famous duets called to mind by the music press while reviewing Ballad of the Broken Seas: from Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue to Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood, passing through Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle, Loretta Lynn and Jack White. Ignore all the comparisons that this record by Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees) and Isobel Campbell (ex-Belle & Sebastian) may bring to mind, and just try to listen to it for what it is: a very good album.

Its very brief opening track "Deus Ibi Est" features Lanegan’s cavernous voice juxtaposed to an ethereal Latin chorus sung by Campbell. The final result is so striking that you even feel like forgiving Campbell for butchering every single Latin word with her horrific pronunciation. There’s deep fear in "The False Husband," created by what sounds like genuine pain and sorrow in Lanegan’s voice, while sensuality oozes from the cover of Hank William’s "Ramblin’ Man," in which a whip is used as the main percussion, and Campbell sings in a delicate coquettish voice.

"(Do You Wanna) Come Walk With Me?" creates a sense of complicity between Lanegan and Campbell. In "Saturday’s Gone," Campbell almost relapses into her trademark sad lullabies, but she is luckily rescued by a melancholic violin towards the end of the song. The album concludes with an attempt to sound pop-ish, with "Honey Child What Can I Do?" and the Dylan-esque "The Circus Is Leaving Town."

All in all, this is an album that works beautifully: it is marked by maturity and intelligence, and it’s not a tribute to any particular duet. It is indeed a pleasant, bluesy and folksy collection of songs. It also represents a step forward for Isobel Campbell: after having played for years at being a chanteuse with a twee and childish voice trapped in a folk-pop daydream, she might have finally grown up.

{www.isobelcampbell.com, www.marklanegan.com}