Martina Topley Bird - Some simple place

The world first heard Martina Topley-Bird's uniquely fragile yet stern vocals when she was only a teenager, the angel to Tricky's devil on his first album, Maxinquaye, from 1994. Their musical (and romantic) relationship would last four years and four albums, ending in '98 when she left to pursue a solo career, though her first album, Quixotic (which Tricky did lend a hand on), wouldn't surface until 2003. She has always worked with a select choice of producers, including Danger Mouse for her second full-length, 2008's pop-psych-soul-inspired The Blue God, and she has also guested on tracks by Diplo, Gorillaz, Common, David Holmes and most recently, Massive Attack. Topley-Bird's latest offering, Some Place Simple, was essentially recorded live in the short span of a week at Damon Albarn's studio and only includes a small amount of new material; instead, the singer mostly focuses on re-working select songs from her previous two solo albums, stripping the originals of their noir-pop dressings and bringing to light not only her beautiful words, but the equally intimate and special presence of her voice. These are very organic and bare-boned re-imaginations, created with instruments like kalimba, tablas, pandeiro, guitar, ukulele, harpsichord, electric piano, brush-stroked drums and hand percussion, all spaciously arranged, allowing the room for Topley-Bird to weave rich melodic tapestries out of layers of her voice. The results are stunning, as elements of blues, acoustic pop and minimalist soul bring to mind Minnie Riperton, Syreeta and Linda Lewis -- or you could even draw a comparison to nu-folk/alt-rock names like Joanna Newsom, Cat Power and Holly Miranda, only more rootsy and soulful. The unexpectedly sparse intimacy of Some Place Simple captures a special moment in the ever-shifting career of one of pop music's underdogs and reflects the inspiration of a maturing singer and songwriter. This is definitely the sleeper hit of the season; intoxicating and hypnotic, passionate and inspired, if you want to go to some place simple and truly special, start here.

-Daniel Givens

1 Baby Blue
2 Phoenix
3 Lyin
4 Da Da Da
5 Orchids
6 Poison
7 Intro
8 Snowman
9 Sandpaper Kisses
10 All Day
11 Ilyah
12 Valentine
13 Too Tuff To Die
14 Kiss Kiss Kiss
15 Harpsichord Kiss