For a supposed enigmatic, eccentric recluse, Germano’s been busily sociable lately, working with Eels and Ed Harcourt, acclaimed by Bowie, Gabriel, you name it. There’s a healthy guest roster on her fifth solo opus?Neil Finn, Johnny Marr, co-production by R.E.M.’s Joey Waronker. Not that all this interaction with other human beings has made her music any less spectral, frail and delicately bewildering. As the title suggests, it’s a kind of eerie concept album, loaded with the self-loathing imagery that Tori Amos gave up years ago. She still refuses to knock up any memorable tunes, but arthouse divas thus obsessed with ghosts and personal (if ill-described) demons are always fascinating.
Sincere, if vague.
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