Eliza Carthy Angels & Cigarettes Music
by Eliza Carthy

About this Music

Eliza Carthy - Angels And Cigarettes - Cd

British singer, songwriter, and fiddler Eliza Carthy graduates to a lush, expansive pop palette with her move to a major U.S. label, but this second-generation troubadour's persona hasn't been compromised. Daughter and erstwhile bandmate of English folk legends Norma Waterson and Sir Martin Carthy, the younger Carthy embraces a balance of tradition and experimentation; her earlier solo projects have confirmed her modernism as vividly as her body piercings and brash hair colors. On Angels & Cigarettes, her band executes a quantum shift in wattage, cushioning her ripe, lyrical fiddle lines and a filigree of acoustic stringed instruments with thick synthesizer textures, layered percussion, and bursts of orchestral drama (courtesy of arranger Van Dyke Parks) that reconcile '90s trip-hop with '60s art-pop. Her dusky alto meanwhile follows a sturdy thread through recent stylists such as Beth Orton, Sandy Denny, Linda Thompson, and the singer's own mum. Carthy's indelible Yorkshire accent and the striking candor of her lyrics meanwhile sound both up-to-the-minute and as plainspoken as Child ballads. She strikes different sexual pitches, from gentle eroticism ("Whole") to matter-of-fact bawdiness ("The Company of Men"), and injects a tart element of class-consciousness to her portraits of the perfect and privileged ("Beautiful Girl"). For adventurous pop fans and open-minded folkies, Angels & Cigarettes is both lovely and addictive. --Sam Sutherland