Siouxsie – Mantaray (2007)

This is the final CD from the charity shop haul from Stamford a couple of weeks ago, Siouxsie's first (yes, I was surprised, too) and so far only solo album sans Banshees. It's another one that I didn't approach with high expectations, and might even have stayed there, had my wallet not already have been out.

My initial impressions are entirely predictable, There's little of the energy from Banshees' days, (and who can blame her - I don't have 1978 energy any more either), there's nothing awful here, but neither is there anything that stands out. All the songs are Siouxsie penned, along with her band, a solid professional troupe most of whom had previously backed Robert Plant.

So, song by song, Into A Swan feels like a soft metal trudge, About To Happen follows in this vein, but livelier and more interesting. Here Comes That Day has a big band, film score feel about it, a big song for a big occasion, while Loveless, while powerful seems to drag. Similarly the balladic If It Doesn't Kill You, but the mysterious One Mile Below is more interesting, and it's followed by Drone Zone, a very jazz influenced minimal song, really highlighting Siouxsie's voice - possibly the least commercial song here, and therefore my highlight.

But Sea Of Tranquility feels like the 'big song', the 'important' one. It's fine, but nothing special, and the same goes for the following two tracks.

I've thought long and hard about this album - do I see myself wanting to listen to it in the future? And the answer is, it's unlikely. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence that this album came about when Amy Winehouse was all the rage - I'm not suggesting any copying of one by the other, but there's a sound common to both which was all the rage from 2003-2011. It wasn't, however, my sort of thing. This album is well done, but not for me.

Link to album tracks

2* - a bit mainstream for my tastes, with little that stands out