Eyeless In Gaza - Song of the Beautiful Wanton (2000)

After a reluctant reshaping for the sake of ’80s-pop palatability, and a subsequent hiatus of several years, Martyn Bates and Peter Becker resurrected the Eyeless In Gaza name in the mid-’90s. Latter-day EIG retained the duo’s signature blend of impassioned improvisation and emotive pop, while witnessing the project’s graceful maturation and an interest in English folk traditions.

Consisting of equal parts pop, folk, experimentation, and musical elements otherwise non-ascribable, 1999’s wonderful Song of Beautiful Wanton is a satisfying culmination of EIG’s singular trajectory. Bates and Becker have amassed an impressive instrumental arsenal, with which they detail the idyllic settings framing Bates’ now-mellowed – and often multi-tracked – voice. The exotically textured ‘Mysterious Traffic’ and ‘One Light Then’ offer immediate surprises in deftly incorporated trip-hop electronics and dub-like tape effects, while the sumptuously cinematic ‘Old and Cold and Full of Ghosts’ spills sound effects into ‘The Lovely Wanton.’ Technology proves only a passing fancy, however. The Beautiful Wanton proceeds as a scintillating set of pastoral paeans (‘Lullay My Liking,’ ‘Staring,’ ‘Apple’), mythical musings (‘The Silkie,’ ‘Lord Gregory’), and stinging, self-reflective songwriting (‘Staring,’ fiery ‘Less Sky’) delivered with EIG’s customarily mead-tongued yet lyrically barbed facility. A superb show all around, complemented by gorgeous photographic presentation.~Gil Gershman