Ruby Blue

Here's a brief(ish) run through of the tracks:

1) Leaving the City------odd opening track. electronic and seems almost techno at first, but grows as you listen. not a personal favourite but is very interesting live.

2) Sinking the Feeling----great track. Mixes a hip hop thud with jazzy keys, great horns and haunting voals. Sexy stuff.

3) Night of the Dancing Flame-----Wow! hard to describe...A kind of uptempo American Depression-Era jazz track, with carribean beats. Think Bugsy Malone on Weed, or something! instantly catchy and dancey and is a definite live highlight, she dons a big cape and the horns have an extended solo. I challenge you not to love this song.

4) Throught Time-----begins eery and bizarre, but slowly melts into a wonderfully soulful and jazzy chill-out track. Ideal for dinner parties, should be listened to in the dark or after a heavy night out.

5) Sow into you----quite Moloko, for the fans out there. lovely and discoey, nice electro-shuffle, sing-along-able. Will hit you at first as being an album highlight but over time, you will probably appreciate other tracks more.Still, this is the sort of pop track others would kill for.

6) Dear Diary-----currently my favourite (changes regularly, tho). At 6 minutes long, this live-set Opener is a jazz work out of the catchiest proportions. the hip hop beat is brilliant to dance to, and the horns and extended outro turn this into a very subtle and addictive Best Friend of a song.

7) If we're in Love------The First single, and rightly so. should have been picked up by the Media more, this song shows that as soon as Roisin and Matthew Herbert want to crank out a commercial hit, they Can. Wonderfully soulful and dancey, simple chorus and repetition turn this into a real treat.

8) Ramalama Bang Bang-------yes, even by the title you could imagine this song being interesting. A Dance-Hall work out that flirts with dance and techno synths, this bizarre track is a real monster once you accept it for being different to anything you've heard before. Try not to dance too manically.

9)Ruby Blue-----title track of the album. Heavy bass and super horns, very likeable but you Have to hear this live, when it becomes a head-banger of a rock jam, to appreciate just what it Isn't on the record. after that, there's no going back...as it stands, its'a very good track.

10) Off On it----Extremely bizarre but very addictive. beats like some sort of funeral march that grow louder and engulf you, as the track rises and falls all over the place. A highlight of daring experimentalism, whilst being a reason why this could never be marketed easily as any ordinary pop/dance album. But the CD is so much better for it.

11) Prelude to Lovemaking-----don't really know what this intro is doing on the album, it's really just a make-it-up-as-you-go-along jazz work out. the full song appears on an EP and when performed live, she samples audience hand-clapping and foot-stomping to build the track right in front of your eyes. Fascinating stuff but merely quirky on the CD.

12) The Closing of the Doors------Best track and most straightforward on here. A piano-led, bluesy number that describes a relationship breaking up with breathtaking delivery. Easily accessible and highlights Roisin's voice as being up there with the great voices of the 50s-you can imagine this crackling out over your grammaphone. When performed live, the haunting humming at the end (acepella) is sung as she walks off stage to close the gig, Behind the stage door.Literally, during the Closing of the Doors. Dramatic yet simplistic but Totally gripping stuff.

OVERALL.............I bought this CD on a whim, on a gamble, without being a fan before of her music or the bizarre mash-up of genres that are on display. But i cannot reccomend you enough to challenge your tastes and get stuck into this record, for which there is no real market or Mass Audience to appeal to. The poppy highlights would please anyone, but the real treats and subtleties will emerge as you let this album become part of your life. There is a vacant hole there until you buy it!!