Martin Astin The Long Lost The Long Lost, Ninja Tune ZenCD133, 2009 Mojo April 2009
The Long Lost ****
If Nico had met Caetano Veloso instead of Lou Reed . . .
ignore the Ninja Tune associations-although half of Santa Monica's The Long Lost is Alfred Darlington, aka edgy electronica rover Daedelus, this liasion with his wife Laura is rooted in bossa nova beauty.
The backdrop to Laura's flawless, misty vocal is simple-acoustic guitar, double bass, pastel horn/woodwind/synth shades (Past Perfect's flutey counterpart is exquisite), sometimes shuffling drums (Ballroom Dance Club is almost drum 'n bass), even sampled speech.
Amiss, though, is pure 1966.
Alfred's occasional doleful vocal is John Cale to Laura's Nico with strings lopped into a hypnotic lull.
Siren Song updates Nico's Chelsea Girl sound.
Ballroom Dance Club, meanwhile, revisits United States of America.
The only fault to be found, after 14 tracks, is an eventual melodic sameness, but mood-wise-as befits high school sweethearts, who only reconnected years later-it's giddy, hopelessly romantic; a perfect antidote to domestic ennui.
Martin Astin
**** = good