Ballad of The Broken Seas: Vinyl LP

There's a certain "beauty & the beast" quality to the greatest male/female, singer/songwriter duos. Consider Jane Birkin hooking up with Serge Gainsbourg, or Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood. And so it is with "Ballad of the Broken Seas", an album length collaboration between Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan. There's a similar contrast between Isobel's aching, pristine chill of a voice and Lanegan's wounded, regret-stewed burr. "While duets have been often turned into pairings that dilute both participants into toothless blobs, that's not the case here. Scottish singer Isobel Campbell, formerly of Belle & Sebastian here teams up with Mark Lanegan, formerly of Screaming Trees and collaborator with Queens of the Stone Age. It's a classic beauty and the beast alignment, with Lanegan's gruff baritone sounding like the protector of a beautiful little bird. This is a combination that's been done with success previously by the likes of Lee Hazelwood & Nancy Sinatra, and Serge Gainsbourg with Jane Birkin. The instrumental settings further underscore the gorgeously weathered timelessness of these dozen songs. This is music that straddles several centuries, updating traditions with confidence and subtle invention". --David Greenberger