The Gentle Waves
Swansong For You

THE REVIEW

Isobel Campbell not only has one of the most enchanting and captivating voices I have ever heard, but she is also an excellent songwriter. And I must say that I prefer her solo work to her collaborations with the excellent Belle & Sebastian.

I haven't listened to the latest work with Mark Lanegan released these days yet, but in the meantime, I have revisited this one, released in 2000.
Published under the name "The Gentle Waves", I believe it is almost entirely her creation, even though several members of Belle & Sebastian are present as instrumentalists. Tales of loves that ultimately do not work out, perhaps due to the inability of men and women to communicate. Or if they do work, they're sustained by sips of gin and solitary dreams. Even the moments of joy seem constantly suspended over a dark abyss that we know well is there and could devour us at any moment. Stories that continue more because the protagonists wouldn't know what to do otherwise than out of sentiment. Stories that start with the April rain and drown in June in a dirty tide. In the background, ghosts of a colorful childhood of magic.

The overall atmosphere is extremely dreamy and delicate. Rather muted tones of widespread and atmospheric unhappiness. It is the ideal soundtrack to wallow in almost masochistically pleasant melancholy on a boring rainy afternoon. Gracefully nostalgic tones of detachment, at times desperate and at times intimate. Whispered little joys for fear they might shatter. Someone described Campbell as a female Nick Drake, perhaps a bit more cheerful. Indeed, I think she owes him a lot both in arrangements and in lyrics and themes. Still, we are dealing with a person with a very broad musical culture, capable of combining influences of all kinds, from Nancy Sinatra to Hank Williams to Serge Gainsbourg.

I must say that the comparison that seems most fitting to me in terms of singing style is with the great Francoise Hardy (this is evident to me in the track "Sisterwoman").