Firstly, a confession. Whilst your revewer seldom missed an instalment of anything TANYA DONELLY recorded during her kook-rock heyday with Throwing Muses and The Breeders, he is guilty of rather zoning out of what she's been up to since the disappointing second Belly LP.
However, "Whiskey Tango Ghosts", Ms.Donelly's third solo album, suggests this was a rash move in the long run, and that this writer should also be brushing up on her career curve in recent times. Because, put simply, "Whiskey...." is a fine, beautifully-realised album: intimate, sparse, reeking of experience and finding its' author's newly plaintive voice in exceptionally rude health.
Having said that, it's the polar opposite of Tanya's old colleague Kristin Hersh's rekindled desire to rock - as demonstrated by the punky, visceral attack of her new 50Foot Wave project - and "Whiskey Tango Ghosts" rarely allows the pace the quicken much beyond a canter at best.
Which is fine when the songs are of this quality. Mostly built upon tentative strums such as the attractive, breathy "Every Devil" and embellished by Elizabeth Steen's tasteful piano prowess on songs like the opening "Divine Sweet Divide" and "My Life As A Ghost", these are intimate portraits of an artist who's come to terms with her lot and is content to shun the art-rock quirks of old for something rather more substantial. Well, in the main, anyway, though "My Life As A Ghost" does have a little of the bug-eyed starkness you could associate with solo Hersh.
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Elsewhere, Rich Gilbert's pedal steel contributions to songs such as the lovely, vulnerable "Just In Case You Quit Me" and the scarily sparse "Fallout" demonstrate a burgeoning liking for Americana within Tanya (it suits her, too), and ex-Muses colleague Dave Narcizo adds another different dimension via his trademark offbeat percussive nous on "The Promise" and "Story High": the latter being about the most propulsive thing here, save for the jaunty melancholia of "Whiskey Tango." All are minor departures and all are wholly satisfying.
"Whiskey Tango Ghosts", then, is a quiet, contemplative little marvel which won't man the rooftops desperate to scream its' virtues out loud. Instead, it's intent on a gentle seduction and will be a record you return to far more than you'd initially have ever imagined. Growing up really suits Tanya Donelly.
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