I constantly find myself begging the Music Gods for new albums from my favorite artists that I feel are long overdue for a new release. Call me selfish but thirteen years waiting for a new Sade record is absurd. I have begged and waited longer for new music from the English duo Everything but the Girl, but after an unexpected tweet in November, I knew the wait would be ending soon. The married duo tweeted “Just thought you’d like to know that we have made a new Everything But The Girl album. It’ll be out next spring. Love, Ben and Tracy” and went off to have dinner not expecting to return home to thousands of messages from fans all over the world excited to share the news.
Fuse the anticipated first release of new material from EBTG since 1999’s Temperamental is a beautiful album that tells the tale of recapturing innocence in a world that is not so innocent. The group which will celebrate the 40th anniversary of their debut album, Eden, next year called it quits over twenty years ago at the height of their popularity to rather focus their attention to raising a family and to pursue other interests. Ben Watt started a dance label and released some solo records while his wife Tracey Thorn also released some solo work in addition to writing a few memoirs.
Twenty-four years since their last release the empty-nesters returned with an elegant record that like many albums of the past three years was the result of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. Ben was diagnosed with Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EPGA), an extremely rare and potentially deadly autoimmune condition, in 1992 and fast forward to the spring of 2020 and he like many others with autoimmune deficiencies had to completely change the way they lived in the new world.
Locked away from the world, the duo began to write and record music together for the first time in years and began to ask themselves what this new music was. It didn’t take long to find the answer. “We found ourselves asking, ‘What does an Everything But the Girl album sound like? Should it sound like we did in 1985? Or in 1997?’,” Thorn told TIDAL magazine. “In the end, we wound up thinking, ‘We’re here and now. Let’s see what comes out.’”
When the dust settles years from now and we look back at all of the music that was recorded largely in part because of the pandemic, Fuse will stand as one of the most important pandemic albums. The most relatable song to the events of the lockdown is “Lost.” The song finds Tracey listing all of the things she and so many of us lost during that time, including our minds. “Lost” although a simple song, really hits home with the reminder of how cruel that time was to all of us (“I lost my place,” “I lost my perfect job,” “I lost my mother,” “I just lost it”).
It’s hard to find much of anything predictable on Fuse outside of the fact that the songs are extremely strong especially in the way they attack angst and dread we all are facing in todays climate. “Forever” finds Tracey crying for something to hold onto as we come out of the pandemic and asking the listener to start thinking about what they would save from the ashes of that time.
Many fans will be searching for a new “Missing,” their massive 1995 hit from the album Amplified Heart that put them on the worlds stage, and “Nothing Left To Lose” could be the song to fill that role. The song has been echoing off the walls of dance clubs around the world since its January release. The garage-house track relies on Thron’s emphatic vocals as she sings “What is left to lose” in the chorus and later in anguish begging “Kiss me while the world decays/kiss me while the music plays.”
There has been very little in the terms of positivity to come out of the pandemic but the return of a much beloved and missed British band is one of them. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait another 24 years for another Everything But The Girl record. @ebtg
Steven McCash is the Lead Music Writer and Utility Man for SoBros Network. Steven is the host of the ‘Drinking With…’ podcast, and the pioneer of New Music Friday, highlighting each week’s new releases in the world of music in addition to the occasional live show review. He also pitches in as a Nashville lifestyle writer and football analyst (hence the ‘Utility Man’ title). Follow on Twitter: @MC_Cash75
Subscribe to the SoBros Network Patreon here – $5/month gets you instant access to an exhaustive content library of articles, podcasts, and videos created exclusively for our subscribers!
