[3/5] Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood this ain't: Mating twee pop with muscular country, singing about oral sex and love's salvation, and covering Hank Williams' "Ramblin' Man" (while using a whip for percussion, no less) seem tawdry enough on paper. And when ex-Screaming Trees leader Mark Lanegan breaks into Ballad Of The Broken Seas' opener, "Deus Ibi Est," in his desiccated rasp, you'll think you've wandered into a portentously seedy, dark affair. But a match-up like this one needs the right balance between angel and devil, and ex-Belle And Sebastian singer Isobel Campbell's fragile alto is just no match for Lanegan. Easy charmers like "Honey Child What Can I Do?" would've been the rule rather than the exception had Campbell (who produced the disc) been more assertive with her own voice; but by the dusty, haunting closer, "The Circus Is Leaving Town," it's as if Campbell has just given up and turned over the spotlight to her partner. As for us? We're left with a promise of what might have been.
(V2) Erick Haight
 Official Website: http://www.v2records.com
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