Walking Wounded

I have a soft spot for this kind of 90s electro-pop. But something is *Missing* from this particular record.

Aged like a fine wine. Lovely drum programming and soothing vocals. It's not 5 stars as some of the lyrics are a bit direct for my taste. 4.5 if I could. Bloody lovely in headphones.

Very well done although a little boring at times.

4.0/5.0: Great

really good production. for something in a genre that i dont listen to its well done. the lack of variation between the songs makes the long runtime feel even longer. additionally the last two songs are just different mixes of the two singles which don't feel like they shouldve been on the original version of the album

En 1996, le duo britannique Everything but the Girl, composé de Tracey Thorn et Ben Watt, opère une transformation musicale audacieuse et acclamée avec la sortie de son neuvième album studio, "Walking Wounded". Cet opus marque un virage stylistique majeur, délaissant les sonorités jazzy et sophisti-pop de leurs débuts pour embrasser pleinement les rythmes électroniques et les atmosphères envoûtantes de la drum and bass et du trip-hop, alors en pleine effervescence au Royaume-Uni. Loin d'être une simple concession aux tendances du moment, "Walking Wounded" s'impose comme une œuvre d'une profonde maturité, où la mélancolie introspective, signature du groupe, trouve un nouvel écrin sonore, à la fois moderne et intemporel.

L'album s'ouvre sur le morceau éponyme, "Walking Wounded", une immersion immédiate dans ce nouveau paysage sonore. Les breakbeats caractéristiques de la drum and bass, ici ralentis et adoucis, tissent une toile rythmique complexe sur laquelle la voix chaude et légèrement voilée de Tracey Thorn déploie des paroles empreintes d'une vulnérabilité poignante. Elle y dépeint la douleur persistante d'une rupture amoureuse, l'impression d'être un "blessé de guerre" de l'amour, errant dans le paysage de sa propre peine. Ce titre donne le ton à l'ensemble de l'album : une exploration des cœurs meurtris et des solitudes urbaines, portée par des productions électroniques sophistiquées.

Ben Watt, après s'être immergé dans la scène électronique londonienne, collaborant avec des figures montantes telles que Spring Heel Jack, qui coproduit une partie de l'album, et Howie B. Leur apport est crucial, insufflant une authenticité et une fraîcheur aux productions, tout en respectant l'essence mélodique et l'écriture sensible du groupe.

Des titres comme "Wrong" illustrent parfaitement cette fusion réussie. Sur une rythmique jungle épurée et des nappes de synthétiseurs éthérées, Tracey Thorn chante les malentendus et les regrets d'une relation qui s'effrite. Sa voix, toujours au premier plan, conserve cette intimité désarmante qui a fait la renommée du duo, mais elle se trouve magnifiée par la richesse des textures électroniques. "Single", autre morceau phare, aborde avec une lucidité douce-amère le thème du célibat et de la reconstruction de soi après une séparation. La production, à la fois minimaliste et entêtante, souligne le sentiment d'isolement et la quête d'indépendance.

Ce qui frappe dans "Walking Wounded", c'est la manière dont Everything but the Girl parvient à intégrer des éléments de genres alors considérés comme underground, tels que la drum and bass, dans un format pop accessible sans jamais en diluer la substance ou la complexité. Ils évitent l'écueil de la simple appropriation pour créer une œuvre hybride et personnelle. Les paroles de Tracey Thorn, toujours aussi introspectives et finement ciselées, abordent des thèmes universels – l'amour, la perte, la solitude, la résilience – avec une honnêteté et une sensibilité qui trouvent un écho particulier dans ce contexte sonore nocturne et mélancolique.

L'album explore également des nuances plus sombres et expérimentales, comme sur "The Nerve", où les rythmes se font plus insistants et l'atmosphère plus oppressante, reflétant une tension intérieure palpable. À l'inverse, des morceaux comme "Before Today" apportent une touche plus lumineuse et dansante, tout en conservant cette élégance mélodique propre au groupe.

Un 4 sur 5 pour un album novateur de techno acoustique et mélancolique.

tbh i thought they were a one hit wonder but anyway: everything sounds so sad. nothing for me.

Not bad. Meh

This is better than I was expecting. I came in thinking ugh. Early 90's British electronica at its most pastiche. And sure it's that, but it it also seems to be the best of that era. I really liked hanging out in clubs where this type of music played in the background. Music to drink fancy cocktails too.

Channel 5 midnight casino background music vibes. Place your bets. Big_Les69 is the top virtual roulette earner tonight.

It's that early combo of dream pop and electronica that was accessible to the general public.

I’m at a 3.5 that I'll bump up to a 4, but just barely.

On paper, I love the idea of blending Tracey Thorn’s excellent vocals on Idlewild with a more unique sound, aka the D&B / electronica of the mid/late 90s. There’s good beats here, and her vocals sound as strong as ever. The album sort of succeeds at finding a general baseline for its basslines, and in that sense, what’s here is a really competent 41 minutes of tracks. I did enjoy the album. For me, though, the issue is one that’s annoyingly simple to say, but hard to actually execute: the tracks just don’t go far enough.

This album is just missing part of the thrill that makes a roller coaster ride of an emphatic D&B track so compelling to listen to. Her vocals are there, and the basic beats are there, but we’re not leaning enough into the electronica aspects to really make each track go, at least for my tastes. Too many tracks on this album suffer from not going far enough, and too many tracks on this album suffer from simply not going anywhere at all, at least for long enough that it’s a noticeable issue.

4 tracks really stood out to me: “The Heart Remains a Child”, “Walking Wounded”, “Flipside”, and “Mirrorball”, and I suppose those tracks represent my other issue with the album; one that doesn’t necessarily matter as much, but one still bothering me all the same. There’s supposed to be a harmony that exists between lyrics, vocals, and instrumentation, and while this album has a safe enough harmony between the vocals and instrumentals, the songwriting chops that kept each track afloat on Idlewild are sort of thrown out here, save for those 4 tracks. It’s an unfortunate sacrifice to give more attention to the instrumentals/vocals, but with them feeling underbaked for my ears, it feels like an unnecessary one.

I’m digging into it a bit, but I still don’t think this is a bad album at all; I really liked it. For me, it’s just an undercooked one. I understand the desire to not fully sacrifice your sound and style to the D&B that permeates this album, but like… even Cher fucking used autotune on Believe, you know? Any kind of vocal effect would’ve done something to accommodate the electronica-infused production here, even if it was only for 5 seconds on each track. Either that, or just letting the instrumentation really explode and do its thing, as opposed to settling for a looping beat most of the time. Ironically, the "Wrong" remix present on the album partially remedies this issue (instrumentally, not vocally), but I hesitate to call it part of the main tracklist.

As far as the core 9 tracks go, this album’s got so much potential, but it never fully finds it for my tastes. With that said, the execution is still strong, and the album still has enough of a groove that I will BARELY bump this up to a 4. I really hope we get another album from them where they can fully perfect this for my tastes, but this is still fine enough all the same.

The first 3 tracks were great, after that it really started to sag into 90's popslop, only for it to really pick up with the final 2 tracks again. The Drum n Bass parts were nice and unexpected. The singers voice is really pleasant and reminds me of all the music that was on the radio in the late 90's and early 2000's. I can't place or recognise any of the songs here but they sound vaguely familiar in a way. Could've been a higher rating if more of the songs were like Before Today, Wrong and Walking Wounded.

Heartbroken kitchen sink disco. Love the vocals, wasn't so keen on any tracks featuring a guitar though.

Boring and repetitive. Fine for background music, but even then boring. Next. Tracks that sort of caught my attention: Single (I'd almost call this a "favorite track"), Walking Wounded, Flipside.

This one is MUCH better than the other album of Everything But The Girl on this list. Stripped back the songs flourish more.

I was quite surprised with the level of drum n bass in this, or definitely the more upbeat dancey tracks, only with mellow vocals put on top. It does work and it's quite nice. I never really checked these guys out back in the day beyond knowing the singles. It's the kind of thing I might be into, I just found it wasn't particularly engaging. The album seemed to pass me by somewhat, but it was a nice background listen.

Gorgeous. The downtempo beats and her sultry voice perfectly capture a vibe. I'm honestly kicking myself for not listening to them more already.

Excellent album. Very much mid-90s Trip Hop.

I don't know this jsut doesn't sound that good to me. It's also a little late to the party. This could've been made in the 80s easily.

Pretty vibey, but also repetitive.