Smile's Ok

Description

EDITORIAL REVIEWS AMAZON.COM Fans of This Mortal Coil will be excited to learn of this project from 4AD's Ivo Watts-Russell. It's called the Hope Blister, and as with TMC, Watts-Russell is the musical director, although this time out the roster is fixed and led by vocalist Louise Rutkowski. On its debut, ...smile's ok, the group plays ethereal folk and romantic ambient pop that harks back to the early 4AD days. The Hope Blister perform eight cover tunes by the likes of David Sylvian, Heidi Berry, Alison and Jim Shaw of the Cranes, Brian Eno, John Cale, Neil Halstead of Mojave 3, Chris Knox of Tall Dwarfs, and Slow Blow, and the results are strikingly dreamy. These simple tunes are fleshed out with strong atmospheric contrasts, as when a growing wave of distorted effects washes over the stirring strings of "Spider and I" and the way trippy electric guitar wraps around the acoustic guitar of "Only Human." --Bryan Reesman