Temperamental (Remixes)

After an extraordinary and ever-evolving 15-year run, the husband-and-wife team of Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt ended Everything but the Girl with 1999’s superb Temperamental, the duo’s 10th album. After a long and fruitful period working in jazz and folk, the duo’s musical direction shifted after a revelatory encounter with techno music in 1994. Temperamental marks the culmination of that unexpected inspiration, which wasn't a departure as much as an intensification of the group’s essence. On the surface, the entrancing beats of “Five Fathoms,” “Lullaby of Clubland,” and “Temperamental” seem totally different from the skeletal acoustic performances of the duo’s early music. In fact, these songs simply use a new method to incarnate the same poignant late-night moods that the duo once translated using only acoustic instruments. Their exploration of techno coincided with their personal maturation; even as it appealed to young clubgoers, these songs feel like works created by, and about, grown-ups. A song like “No Difference” is dark and ominous, but it's also incredibly grand and romantic: the definition of the tone EBTG had been searching for from their first days.