Statton & Spike: A Young Marble Giant Returns

Title: Bimini Twist

Label: Tiny Global

They were certainly quirky in style but they also were incredibly attractive as a musical force. There was something about Young Marble Giants that forced you to listen. While you did that, they gently changed the face of music as they inspired and inspired and inspired. It was the stripping back of pop/rock that did it. Well, no. It was more than the minimalist instrumentation, it was also the cool, detached and unemotional vocal delivery from Alison Statton. If anything, her delivery thrust the lyrics, out there. Here own vocal style took second place.

When Statton left the band, she entered into a more jazz/pop direction with Weekend. Never let it be said that our Alison stood still, creatively. Weekend didn’t last long. When she left Weekend, she took Spike, the instrumentalist, with her. A proposed Spike collaboration resulted in works via Vinyl Japan and then…not a lot. Statton hasn’t really done a lot for many years. Twenty, actually.

Now she’s back and Spike has come along for the ride. This album is the result of the duo’s new collaboration. Well, I say collaboration, the album is one of those distant things. That is, each has done their bit while sitting in their own homes, passing jigsaw pieces of music back and forth, building as they go. Which is why, I suppose, that Statton sounds like she’s singing in the hallway, just behind her front door, on one or two of these tracks. Which is not a problem, just an intriguing texture. You would never know that this album is a patch-up job. It sounds focused and creatively whole. 

Statton’s detached and neutral approach to her YMG work is now no longer. Here, she allows emotion to enter her delivery. We even have vibrato! Spike’s reflective guitar work is warm and contemplative at times.

For YMG fans who whose memories have remained in amber all this time, this new album requires a brief period of adjustment but, once you’re there, Statton still attracts. She still inspires.

To hear sample music, click the above record label link.

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