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Christy & Emily are a Brooklyn based duo and No Rest, their third release, is an intimate affair with sparse arrangements. The emphasis is clearly on the songs and voices, and producer Hans Joachim Irmler (of Faust fame) has come up with a spacious sound where you can almost see the girls standing around one of those giant old-fashioned mics in some ancient studio. And whilst much of No Rest might sound fairly unremarkable on early listens, there's a depth to the song-writing that slowly reveals itself. Indeed there are three or four numbers here that really are top draw.
Apart from Faust, there's also a Nightingales connection – Christy & Emily's second album, Superstition, was released on Robert Lloyd's Big Print label last year - and the opening track, Beast, starts like Lloyd's bunch of merry men in one of their more country-tinged moments. It's a more than decent track as is Sundowners, another country-ish track, but it's Firefly, the track that separates those two numbers, which is the first real indication that there's something really special going on here. With its simple bass riff and swampy feel, it's a cracking track.
There are others, too. Little World, with its distorted guitars, and Here Comes The Water Now, which has a lovely rolling drum beat, are both worthy of mention, but it is Guava Tree and Cave that are the real stand-outs for me. Guava Tree features some beautiful harmonies and cello and there's something almost Low-like about it, whilst Cave has a big echoey drum, a distant bass, and much shimmying guitar to provide a haunting backdrop to their voices. If you like the idea of the Velvets covering Las Vegas Basement, Julian Cope's classic Peggy Suicide track, you will love this. It's beautiful – one of the best things I've heard all year in fact.
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