At last, a really positive surprise from Norwegian come German Liv Kristine! Shedding the (kitsch) metal field
almost entirely, Kristine has begot a full-blown pop rock album which actually works big time.
Moving far beyond the goth genre she helped boost during the 90s, Kristine to me
sounds more like Echobelly, one of the few great results of the Brit Pop
movement of the mid nineties. A female fronted band, Echobelly stood out with a
solid guitar edge and a front woman (Sonya Aurora Madan) with a bitter-sweet
voice.
It's exactly that frail bitter-sweetness I think Liv Kristine has managed to
purport in perfect fashion this time around. Yes, I prefer the up-beat tracks -
Vanilla Skin Delight (by the way a duet with the German Idol winner Tobias
Regner - go figure...), Paris Paris and the title track, but the overall song
quality is higher than it has been the case with any of Kristine's previous
three albums, no doubt about it.
'Libertine' ends with a cover version of the Kate Bush tune The Man with the
Child in his Eyes. A brave move, but Kristine does the song justice and for that
she deserves much respect!
This is an enjoyable listen, both for sitting back relaxing in your easychair
and also if you want to shake your booty on the dance floor (I'll go for the
former...).
