This is an intriguing one. Some of you may know Annika Trost as half of the acclaimed electro-pop duo COBRA KILLER, but here she's doing her own thing in serious style under her TROST moniker with her vivid second album, the ambiguously-titled 'Trust Me'.
I say ambiguous because on the basis of the nocturnal liaisons Annika whispers and murmurs her way through (in English, German and French, no less!) during the course of these 12 stripped-down, rhythmic and furtive songs, she's quite possibly a femme fatale with 'Double Jeopardy'-style ploys and strategies up her finely-embroidered sleeve. Which, of course, makes her all the more tempting and mysterious a proposition for the poor deluded male out there.
She has no problem beckoning you into her depraved discotheque, either. Opener 'Cowboy' is the very epitome of Cold War chic: all '60s r'n'b energy, pitted against classic, John Barry-style guitar motifs and sounding like the soundtrack to a David Lynch movie set in the most arcane of Berlin's back streets. It's bloody fantastic, but also chilly enough to have you wondering what's lurking in the shadows all the way home.
Much of what follows maintains this darkly divine standard. Sure, the pull of the European language vocals (French on 'Sans Ta Scie' and the Francoise Hardy-style alienation of 'Guy Le Superhero', German on the drum-heavy 'In Diesem Raum') is intoxicating, but she's no less fascinating when she falls back on English, like on the sparse torch song of 'Black' (manipulative emotional blackmail and death by shovel anyone?) or on the twisted, obsessive blues of 'The Scales & The Score' which lurches around like early Bad Seeds and even features Blixa Bargeld-style guitar scraping.
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There again, the Bad Seed references aren't wholly surprising bearing in mind Cave's drummer Thomas Wydler and Thomas Carlyon (from darkly suave Aussies in Europe Devastations) are among the sharp'n'discerning collaborators Annika ropes in here. Mostly, though, her own eclectic reference points steer the ship around the pop icebergs, cheekily throwing lines to everything from Pere Ubu-style basslines and Northern Soul ('Sans Ta Scie') to the blank'n'groovy, Lalo Schifrin-style delights of 'Neon Deadland' and the tingly and almost stillborn blues of 'Filled With Tears' which brings the album to a conclusion with the fatalistic grace of Tindersticks attending a funeral in Vienna.
'Trust Me', then, is really quite something. By turns chilly, sexy, evocative and hip-shakin', it's sheathed in enough cloak and dagger to fascinate for several lifetimes to come and displays a fierce intelligence. When it comes to leaving a knife in electro-pop's ribcage, it seems it's this dark-haired chanteuse who's hoarding the six-inch gold blade out on the floor. Ask her for the next dance at your peril.
(http://www.myspace.com/trostcity)
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