Angels & Cigarettes

1	Whispers Of Summer 4:42
2	Train Song 4:03
3	Beautiful Girl 3:28
4	Whole 4:05
5	Poor Little Me 5:27
6	The Company Of Men 3:38
7	Perfect 3:57
8	Wild Wood 3:13
9	Breathe 4:14
10	Fuse 4:46

Barnes & Noble

Although she's in her mid-20s, vocalist/songwriter/fiddler Eliza Carthy has centuries of music in her background: Her parents are British folk legends Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson, and she's grown up performing with them in the family combo Waterson/Carthy. On her fourth solo album, Angels and Cigarettes, however, Eliza is obviously less concerned with the past than the present. Aside from a moody reinvention of Paul Weller's "Wildwood," she composed all the songs, and her narratives of lust and longing are as likely to feature trip-hop beats and electronic burbles as her own reeling violin lines. While Carthy is adept at writing lilting pop songs, such as the aptly titled "Perfect" (with B. J. Cole on lap steel), her real gift is her ability to create songs that echo the atmosphere of traditional folk ballads while sounding completely contemporary. On "Train Song," she transforms an archetypal demon lover into a man who is the object of a doomed voyeuristic obsession. More often, the echoes come from the cadences of Carthy's husky, mellowed voice, especially on the wistful "Fuse" and the provocative "The Company of Men," both of which feature Van Dyke Parks's elaborate string arrangements. "I don't want to be one of the beautiful people/'cause beautiful people are boring," she sings on "The Company of Men." Carthy needn't worry; Angels and Cigarettes is often beautiful but never boring. Steve Klinge

All Music Guide

Eliza Carthy comes from a family steeped in traditional folk, so it may seem somewhat disconcerting to see her with blue-streaked hair and pierced nose. While the music itself shows that Carthy hasn't completely turned her back on her roots, she is clearly determined to make her own path. Grounded in the folk and singer/songwriter school, she doesn't mind lacing her sound with pop rhythms, keyboards, and even trip-hop. Call it experimental folk. "Beautiful Girl" pushes forward with electronics and driving drums, creating a catchy beat that wouldn't be out of place on a Madonna album. However, the difference is the words, with biting lyrics like "Beautiful girl I know you're probably dead clever/But you're only gorgeous once and you'll be clever forever." The opening track, "Whispers of Summer," is much more folky, with Carthy's fiddle rising above the drum track to create a danceable melody. This cut is more upbeat than much of the material on the album. "The Company of Men" begins with a lyric about giving sexual favors "to men who didn't want me anymore"; the more oblique "Poor Little Me" is about a death, perhaps an abortion. Songs like "Train Song" and "Fuse" explore love and lust, themes that run throughout Angels & Cigarettes. These lyrics are at times emotionally bare, and everyone may not be comfortable with Carthy's revelations. But she seems determined to purge these emotions by turning them into art. The result is ten well-written songs, filled with searching lyrics and an innovative sound. For those who enjoy folk that's willing to take musical chances, Angels & Cigarettes is a gratifying release. Ronnie D. Lankford Jr.