Tracey Thorn

Out of the Woods is not actually Tracey Thorn's first solo recording—she released a mini-album under her own name back in 1982—but it certainly seems like one given that she's been collaborating with her husband, Ben Watt, as the electronic pop duo Everything But The Girl for over two decades.

The record was created with a variety of producers including Ewan Pearson, Martin Wheeler, and Charles Webster—all of whom essentially act as surrogates for Watt, crafting the same sort of slick, sophisticated, and somewhat dated synth-pop that dominated Everything But the Girl's discography.

Pearson's dance tracks are the most immediately ingratiating and benefit from his refined taste in vintage keyboard textures. But the most memorable cut on the album is the lushly orchestrated acoustic ballad "Here It Comes Again," which sidesteps Thorn's voluntary musical typecasting and presents her voice in an exceptionally flattering light.

- Matthew Perpetua
03.21.07

Raising three children kept Tracey Thorn all but completely away from music for several years. Apart from appearing on Tiefschwarz's "Damage," she was completely absent since 1999, while husband and Everything But the Girl partner Ben Watt continued DJing and operating his Buzzin' Fly label. Thorn even thought it possible at one point that she might not record again, but she has returned with help from several collaborators to make her second solo album, released 25 years after her first. Despite the changes in her life, as well as the varied backgrounds of the producers, Out of the Woods is not the least bit out of character. It is a mellow, melodic album that switches between stripped-down, folk-inspired material, downtempo pop, and up-to-date productions designed for both home and club listening. Thorn has returned as if she never went away, sounding completely at ease without Watt. She's still, for the most part, singing about love; "A-Z," in which a young outsider, fed up with being beaten and teased, leaves her small town for the city, is the only instance where parenthood might have had an effect on her songwriting. The timely production touches are a more than adequate fit for Thorn's subdued but emotive vocals, just as effective as the drum'n'bass elements on EBTG's last two albums. "It's All True," produced by Ewan Pearson with Darshan Jesrani and Klas Lindblad, is the prime highlight -- bounding synth stabs, sweetened strings, percolating percussion accents, and the kind of near-ecstatic vocal turn that only Thorn could deliver -- utilizing a modernized mutation of the post-disco/pre-house boogie era (as exemplified by Jesrani and Morgan Geist's Metro Area). While the beginning-to-end level of quality is expected from Thorn, it's remarkable that the album comes after such an extended absence. And, despite the number of idiosyncratic collaborators -- all of whom established themselves after Temperamental -- it achieves cohesion and sounds exactly like a Tracey Thorn album. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide