Everything But The Girl may have recently embarked on a torch-song drum'n'bass journey, but it's another duo, Louise Rhodes and Andrew Barlow, aka Lamb, who more truly exemplify the fluctuating tensions between song form and jungle's undulating rhythms. Rhodes was a guest vocalist on the recent 808 State album, whose rippling aquatic textures are also present on Lamb's debut album, although on a much sparser level, with bass guitar posing counterpoint melodies and Rhodes's dry, haunted vocal floating over the top. The likes of Cotton Wool, a scramble of shuddering beats swirling against Rhodes's placid voice and self-harmonising layers, punctuated by moments of ambient vapour, is testing material, but not everything is: Trans Fatty Acid and Gold are relatively straightforward, Gorecki is closer to trip-hop lushness and even the closing 17-minute Feela coasts through without overtaxing the casual listener.

rated:  * * * * (out of 5)

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review:  Martin Aston

nicked from 'Q', dated December 1996

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