I got confused hearing the name "Idlewild" as there was a band called Idlewild as well, although they came along later than this album. I thought also that the Scottish folk-rock group Runrig had an album called Idlewild as well, but after a bit of research, they didn’t. I think they just sounded a bit like the band Idlewild. Neither of whom sounded like the album Idlewild. It's also, as I recall, the previous name of JFK Airport.
And after that confusing introduction.... This is Everything But The Girl (who are basically Tracy Thorn and Ben Watt plus session musicians) before they added a bit of drum and bass to their sound for their biggest hit Missing. Here, they’re much more a blend of sophisti-pop and stripped down gentle singer-songwriter style music, although on the track I Always Was Your Girl there’s a hint of the later blend of acoustic folk sounds with electronica.
The duo seem at their best on this album when doing the mostly stripped-back heartfelt ballad tracks. The Night I Heard Caruso Sing is a simple piano piece mainly sung by Watt, with Thorn joining him as backing vocals for some of the choruses, a track about fears for the future (“Even as we sleep, they’re loading bombs onto a white train”) are held in abeyance by clinging to the simple joy of family. A theme that’s continued in Apron Strings, a kind of love story to a child yet to be born, tinged by a level of sadness since it’s implied that the child hasn’t even been conceived, nor likely to be yet. It kind of reminded me of Joni Mitchell’s Little Green, but told from a different angle. Shadow On A Harvest Moon is a nice one too.
The lion’s share of the singing is taken by Thorn, but Watt has a nice voice too, and it’s a pity that they don’t make more of harmonies and duets as when they do sing together the sound is warm and melancholy at the same time. When they add in more elements (like a bit of Eighties saxophone) the effect doesn’t work so well for me - see my comments on pretty much every sophisti-pop album so far. Guess I'm neither sophisticated nor popular.
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