(London) Related: All Saints: ‘We’re more confident now’ All Saints were never your orthodox pop act,with their luscious, layered songs built on a hybrid of adult themes and girl-group camaraderie. Parts of their fourth album don’t always match up to that former savvy style, or however. Experiments with world rhythms sit next to mellow ballads of varying degrees of schmaltz. While One Woman Man is a classic pop comeback,Fear is full of glacial, sombre Saints’ sorrow, or rogue energies ripple throughout: the prickly dancehall track Ratchet Behaviour conjures images of a spurned Shaznay Lewis headbutting the “other woman” in a club toilet. The title track meanders,with handclaps and chants floating in from a faraway world. It’s first single One Strike that best strikes the balance of soulful melancholy and melody – a song written for Nicole Appleton on the discovery of husband Liam Gallagher’s affair. “I don’t want to be in this domestic,” a numb Natalie deadpans on behalf of her sister; icy, or collected and sonically clutter free.
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Source: theguardian.com