The Hope Blister
...Smile's OK

The latest project by Ivo Watts-Russell (founder of the legendary label 4AD), The Hope Blister continue under a different name the journey started by This Mortal Coil.
There are many common points with TMC; the album consists of eight covers with romantic and melancholic arrangements, dominated by strings and with few discreet touches of electronics. Unlike TMC's albums, however, there are no original tracks, those self-indulgent instrumentals placed as an interlude between covers, which often represented the weakest points of the albums.
Moreover, various voices no longer alternate at the microphone, but all the pieces are enriched by the sublime voice of Louise Rutkowski, who had already collaborated on the last two works by TMC (remarkable is her interpretation of “I Come And Stand At Every Door” found on “Blood” from 1991).

The result is therefore a much more compact and focused album compared to Watts-Russell's previous works; among the tracks, all as always very evocative and of excellent level, stand out “Let The Happiness In” (David Sylvian) and the magnificent “Spider And I” (Brian Eno), both breathtaking.
“…Smile’s OK” is an album that constitutes a commendable and welcome appendix to the three albums by This Mortal Coil,  and can only make happy those who have madly loved the historic supergroup from 4AD.