Sunday, December 13, 2009

Song #14: Massive Attack featuring Hope Sandoval - "Paradise Circus"



Having just blogged about 30 Seconds to Mars' comeback, we may as well discuss another return to the fold - Britain's fearless leaders of trip-hop, Massive Attack.

It's been nearly seven years since their last record, the coldly received 100th Window. After time in hibernation, the duo have re-emerged with talk of a new record, Heligoland, and a fucking cool guestlist scrawled onto a page next to it.



Amongst the guests are TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe, Elbow's Guy Garvey, Damon Albarn and, on here, Mazzy Star singer Hope Sandoval. By the way, Hope hasn't lost an inch of quality - she really is fantastic here. The beat is slow and sensual, like something Beth Gibbons forgot to put on Dummy, complete with syncopated handclaps, echoing glockenspiel and a walking bassline that smooths over the ambience. This all but leaves Sandoval to play seductress in a dirty-sex playground (fitting as hell, given the video), breathily working her way across the beat itself by a crawl. It's slow-paced, but it's one of the most engaging tracks the band have put their name to this side of Mezzanine.

FINAL RATING (/10): 8.5

If the rest of the album continues like this, we're going to have something pretty awesome on our hands. I LOVE new music!

xxx
David

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