Saints & Sinners

About

If All Saints’ debut pitched the group as an edgier alternative to the Spice Girl, the band’s 2000 follow-up, <i>Saints & Sinners</i>, sought to expand their sound, following a period in which their musical skills risked being drowned out by their tabloid infamy. There was plenty for the press to glom on to, from celebrity boyfriends and rumored infighting to three of the band members’ performances in the critically derided film <i>Honest</i>. Thankfully, <i>Saints & Sinners</i> reminded audiences of what had made All Saints so huge in the first place: the music. As with the group’s debut, the album finds Shaznay Lewis handling the majority of the songwriting. But William Orbit, fresh from production duties on back-to-back Madonna hits <i>Ray of Light</i> and <i>Music</i>, also lends a hand, resulting in some of <i>Saints & Sinners</i>’ best song. That includes “Pure Shore,” a near-perfect portion of dream pop that seamlessly folds the group’s crystal-clear harmonies into Orbit’s trademark liquid ripples and celestial synths; the result is hazily euphoric. “Black Coffee,” meanwhile, is a similarly lush soundscape of glitchy electronics and shimmering melodies that wistfully evokes the domesticity of a contented relationship. And “Surrender” is an ode to sensuality, cloaked in Blatt’s velvety vocals (“Like a flower, you unfold/Leading a dance all on your own/And like a dead man I don’t move”). .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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