They Go Together.... like Rama Lama Lama, Ke Dinga de Dinga Dong--Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan--Ballad of the Broken Seas

Out of the frying pan...



Into the fire...

 Yeah, you know what I'm saying, I'm little bit grunge....and I'm a little bit indie pop. I make joking comparisons, but combining the talents of ex-Belle and Sebastian Isobel Campbell and Screaming Trees/Queens of the Stoneage is nothing short of inspirational. Richard Thompson wrote the song "Galway to Graceland". Well this is the Glasgow-Seattle connection. Their first album together, Ballad of the Broken Seas is a bit of a 60's genre exercise, like a creepier version of Lee Hazlewood/Nancy Sinatra or Jimmy Webb, but a damned fine one in my opinion. I think that Lanegan has one of the most distinctive voices in music today and he is a fine songwriter to boot. However, when I picked up Ballad of the Broken Seas, I was surprised to find that Isobel Campbell had written and arranged most of the songs here. And it turns out she is a talented songwriter in her own right. This long distance collaboration truly works like magic.

For me Lanegan's deep whiskey croon is a guilty pleasure; he sings with the weary voice of an old southern bluesman with a world of miles on his speedometer. Campbell's sweetly fragile voice fits right in the pocket and she provides a nice counterpoint to Lanegan's vocals. Sometimes the songs here are country ballads, like the eerie swagger of their cover of Hank Williams' Ramblin' Man or the fantastic closing tune, The Circus is Leaving Town, and other times they are like old timey folk like Do You Wanna Come Walk With Me?



But most of the songs are orchestrated and dark 60's pop-noir, like the soundtrack to a Jim Thompson pulp novel. I know I said earlier that I was surprised that Isobel Campbell wrote these songs, but it was not intended to be a knock on her, but rather the fact that songs sound so very American, in a bare bones classic way. Like the wonderful pop of Honey Child, What Can I Do? Campbell ethereally shines on the dirgey vibe-folk number Saturday's Gone. In some ways it bothers me that I know that they record their parts thousands of miles from each other. I would rather believe they are in the same room collaborating together on these albums.




On a record with a lot of high points, I find myself most drawn to the title track Ballad of the Broken Seas, heightened by Isobel's moving cello solo at the heart of the song. Not far behind is the orchestrated pop of The False Husband, one of the most moving duets here. I just checked and found out that they have recorded 3 albums together now, most recently 2010's Hawk. I don't think you can go wrong with anything Mark Lanegan is involved with. His last solo album from 2004, Bubblegum, is by far the finest grunge-blues album I've ever heard. But here's hoping that Campbell and Lanegan continue to work together, because they really have found something special here.