When Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn started to create music together again in spring 2021, after more than two decades apart, they initially used the title Tren (Tracey and Ben). However, once the songs started to flow, it became clear that this couldn’t be anything else but a new Everything But The Girl album.

A couple of minutes into album opener ‘Nothing Left To Lose’, you can feel the chemistry between them as an almost physical thing: Thorn’s emotive vocal courses through Watt’s shimmering electronic backdrop, as she begs the object of her affections to “Kiss me while the world decays/ Kiss me while the music plays.” 

On ‘When You Mess Up’, she gives the song’s subject licence to indulge their vices: “Have a cigarette… Have a drink/ Talk too loud/ Be a fool in a crowd.” ‘No One Knows We’re Dancing’ takes the bedsit opera to a new level, Thorn waxing bittersweetly about a Fiat Cinquecento, while the ululating ‘Lost’ is a heartfelt and touching examination of grief.

Taken in isolation, each song is a beautiful vignette of warm electronica, gentle synths and soulful vocals. When you listen to the entire album in one sitting, however, the pace becomes a little uniform. ‘Caution To The Wind’ and ‘Forever’ try their best to up the ante but barely get above a canter, leaving the listener with the nagging feeling that this is a very good record, but one that could have been great.

Score: 7/10
Listen: ‘Nothing Left To Lose’

Out now via Buzzin’ Fly Records/Virgin.

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