Swing
Out Sister Beautiful Mess [album]
“The
name Swing Out Sister conjures
up cabaret-style, soul and jazz music
and you wouldn’t
be wrong as this duo
has produced a modern take on those
styles with a creditable album, Beautiful
Mess...”
SWING OUT SISTER is certainly cool and Beautiful Mess is the duo's
ninth studio album in the UK. Featuring the catchy single Something Every
Day (available now as a digital download), Beautiful Mess was released
on 8 September (2008).
Something Every Day is a great track with an established sound and follows
the style of the album with jazzy notes and appealing delivery. Some of the
tracks on Beautiful Mess lean towards Burlesque, perfectly matched to
Corrine Drewery's rich voice and her rise to the challenging, powerful notes.
Corinne's voice has a more mature timbre, suited to Swing Out Sister's style
and it is a great foil to Andy Connell's unusually restrained, rhythm-heavy
vocals — interwoven with their signature string and vocal arrangements
that feature Gina Foster. Gina collaborated on the writing of Something Every
Day, the enchanting Butterfly and My State Of Mind with its
Twenties styling and masterful lyrics.
Full of bounce and with a pretty melody comes I'd Be Happy followed by
a different and pleasant musical composition, Butterfly Lullaby. An interesting
and unusual treatment marks Secret Love (You're Invisible) that reminds
me of some of the early Sixties' classics. The title track, Beautiful Mess,
is a delightful cabaret-style song that again has clever, meaningful words.
Swing Out Sister celebrate the eclectic cultural mix of the UK's constantly
changing music scene with a sound that owes as much to hip hop and jazz fusion
as sixties pop and soul, with its well crafted arrangements and a hint of electro
along the way. A superb album that melds jazz, soul, classic pop and a touch
of Burlesque into a Beautiful Mess.
• Swing Out Sister's stunning new
album Beautiful Mess is available now (released in the UK on 8 September,
2008).
Tracklisting
1 Something Every Day | 2 Time Tracks You Down | 3 Butterfly
| 4 My State Of Mind |
5 I'd Be Happy | 6 Butterfly Lullaby | 7 Secret Love (You're
Invisible) | 8 All I Say, All I
Do | 9 Out There | 10 Beautiful Mess | 11 Butterfly
(Little Wizard Mix) | 12 Something Every Day (Little Wizard Mix)
"Swing Out Sister is certainly cool… A superb album that blends jazz, soul,
classic pop and a touch of Burlesque and hip-hop into a Beautiful Mess"
— MotorBar
Check out myspace.com/sos06
and swingoutsister.com.
About Swing Out Sister
A chance meeting at Manchester's now legendary Hacienda club first brought Andy
Connell and Corinne Drewery together.
Andy had proved his musical capabilities with Factory Records' A Certain
Ratio, while Corinne, after graduating from St Martin's School of Art in
London, found her musical interests had eclipsed her fashion career. Along with
ex-Magazine drummer Martin Jackson, they combined their diverse influences to
produce a series of demos which attracted the attention of several major labels,
including Phonogram, who eventually signed the band.
Once Swing Out Sister was formed in 1985, a long-term working relationship with
producer Paul Staveley O'Duffy was established which was to define the future
sound of the group. Their unique blend of cinematic jazz pop earned them several
chart singles, including Breakout, a UK Number 4 Hit, Surrender
and Twilight World, resulting in their 1987 debut album, It's Better
To Travel, hitting the Number One spot in the UK album charts. Success followed
throughout Europe, America and the Far East.
In 1988, Swing Out Sister was nominated for two Grammy Awards including Best
New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group or Duo for Breakout.
Eight studio albums, two live albums and over a decade of live shows have gained
Swing Out Sister international success, along with themes and scores for television
and Andy's compositions for short films.
After sell-out dates in Japan, the USA and UK in 2005, Andy and Corinne returned
to their East London studio to write and record their next album.
In March 2008, the band first released the Beautiful Mess album in Asia,
and completed a successful tour of Japan and the Philippines that culminated
in a sell-out concert at the Areneta Coliseum stadium in Manila. Now, Swing
Out Sister is gearing up for the highly anticipated UK and European release
of Beautiful Mess.
Swing Out Sister Discography
It's Better To Travel (1987) | Kaleidoscope World (1989) | Get
In Touch With Yourself (1992) | Live At The Jazz Café (1993) | The
Living Return (1994) | Shapes And Patterns (1997) | Filth And
Dreams (1999) | Somewhere Deep In The Night (2001) | Where Our
Love Grows (2004) | Live In Tokyo (2005) | Beautiful Mess
(2008)
