STRANGER ON THE SOFA

"kind of spoken-word narrative you either embrace or laugh at-- there's no in-between. Over bursts of static and gyroscoping feedback that flits in and out of view like a searchlight pointed skyward, Anna Chancellor's brittle upper-crust English accent intones a weird sci-fi narrative stuffed with lines like "They believe I know everything because my master's memory serves me well/ In fact, I know nothing" and "I operate a program of self-denial, yet languish in polymorphous perversity as is my wont" and "I'm hunted for my flesh/ I'm hounded for my beauty. "Here in the Hole" shares some sonic characteristics with Adamson's early soundtrack-influenced work, and its placement at the front of the album feels like a pullback from the odd funk of 2002's King of Nothing Hill, but it turns out the rest of the album is all over the place, swinging through dark pop, atmospheric instrumentals, and demented circus music. The next song, "The Long Way Back Again", is like Barry Adamson's Basement Tapes, catchy pop spilling over with Hammond organ."