Tracey Thorn – Love and its Opposite

To me, the singing of (my) Everything But The Girl – Tracey Thorn remains to be the voice of 90s'. Her voice seems to emerge from the deepest recesses of her throat and have been just steadied from sobbing minutes ago. Bear with me, I'm an incurable sucker of melancholic vocals and tunes.

From the heart-breaking "I don't want to talk about it" to the refreshing electronic makeover of "Driving" and "Missing", I can almost time-travel into the past. But before an actual time machine was made, we can only grow old forward. And she apparently did. After years of self-imposed hiatus to concetrate on parenting three children she had with her EBTG partner Ben Watt, she released another solo album this May, titled Love and its Opposite. She described it as "a record about the person I am now and the people around me ... about real life after forty." So Thorn wonders in the album's opening track "Oh, the Divorces!":

Who's next?
Who's next?
Always the ones that you least expect
They seem so strong
It turned out she wanted more all along
And each time I hear who's to part
I examine my heart
See how it stands
Wonder if it's still in safe hands

Anyone who is married or have been married could find sympathy with the lyrics. Love (and marriage), can be as strong as death, and can be as brittle as a changing thought.

As the irony is floating in the air, I notice the song is a waltz.