Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad of The Broken Seas - VVR1035822

That’s Isobel Campbell of Belle and Sebastian and Mark Lanegan of Queens of The Stone Age, and my copy of the CD came with a sticker full of one-liners from various reviews claiming that this album would change the course of music as we know it. Of course, they’re wrong but the whole thing does have an intriguing air about it, making you wonder where they’re going to go next, and whether you care.

The duo share the vocals, Campbell’s being light, sweet and breathy. Lanegan, by way of contrast, comes from the Waits/Cohen school of singing (which is not a bad thing in my book). The first track, Deus Ibi Est, is pure Waits in tone and content. Next, Campbell’s Black Mountain is pure folk, reminiscent of Scarborough Fair and with a really annoying refrain of “I choo, I choo.” The third track, The False Husband, is Tom Waits meets Enrico Moricone, as Sara described it. Baffled by all this? I was.

Then, thank goodness, they produce something of themselves in the title track, lapse briefly back into The Waits Land in Ramblin' Man, complete with Mark Ribot-style guitar, and finally settle into a pleasant country-rock groove with the two voices playing off against each other. There are two rather pointless instrumental tracks before the album closes with a piece of pure Springsteen, The Circus is Leaving Town. It’s all rather pleasant and beautifully played, but I don’t think it’s going to change anything. Of course, there's no need for the album to change anything but you might decide to listen to the real thing, or things, instead.