Whether named after the panda or the New York prison, Sing-Sing seems a suitably pretty moniker for ex-Lush guitarist Emma Anderson's new residence, suggestive of lilting melodies and flowery, shoegazey atmospherics.
Rightly so. Still, there are darker forces at work here. An electronic, trip-hoppy vibe pervades, as Lisa O'Neill's crystalline voice leads us, siren-like, into the twilit netherworld where The Carpenters commune with Portishead. It's a deceptively sweet, disquieting thing. Like a cherub-faced toddler wielding a very sharp knife.
The Linoleum flipside finds them more dynamic than when they dissapeared from our radar in late-'97. A gauzy guitar whirlwind, the peculiarly spelled 'Your Back Again' is largely cherishable for the way in which it creepily evokes the addictive, obsessive nature of physical attraction ("I'll keep your legs entwined in mine/Even if the night should break in two") whilst sounding like a miniature carousel in a music box. Beautiful.
April Long.
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