An atmospheric album that skirted on the edge of the indie radars, with echoes of Tindersticks, Venus, PJ Harvey and Sparklehorse. The mood is upbeat miserabilist with some standout tracks such as 'Big Talker', 'Postcard', the PJH Dry-era derivative 'Murder can be Necessary', and the latterday Velvets duet 'Peanuts'. Helene's vocals are sultry and evocative of a British Carla Bruni, though her passive cool can lead to the unenunciated, wallpapery consonants of Hope Sandoval. After a promising first half, canny production and lush instrumentation cannot save the second half from engaging much more than a cinematic background interest. Still, worth stumping up eight quid for the good tracks and here's hoping Helene merits a Jon Parish collab album.