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Emiliana Torrini - Me And Armini
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| Pastemagazine |
| A diva/chanteuse somewhere between the bad-girl anti-heroics of Lily Allen and the Sunday morning adulthood of Norah Jones, Emiliana Torrini sings with the inquisitiveness of fellow Icelander Björk. On Me and Armini, Torrini’s sixth album (third international), her songs are set into glittering poptronics by collaborator Dan Carey, with whom Torrini once co-wrote and co-produced songs for Kylie Minogue. The two aren’t afraid to aim for absolute hookiness. “Some people think that I’m heading for a meltdown,” she sings on the reggae-influenced title track (and obvious single). In places, the album feels a little too cute. “Big Jumps,” for instance, is affixed with a “Walk On The Wild Side” do-do-do outro. But it’s usually in good spirits and plenty likeable—witness the playful, onomatopoeic refrain of “Jungle Drum.” There is most certainly a parallel universe in which Emilana Torrini is the Next Big Thing....full text |
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| Allmusic |
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Emiliana Torrini reprises her relationship with producer/songwriter Dan Carney on Me and Armini, which mixes fingerplucked folk with elements of jazz, dancehall, electronica, and summery pop. Splitting the difference between the intimate acoustics of 2005's Fisherman's Woman and the trip-hop experiments on Love in the Time of Science, Me and Armini finds room for Torrini to flex all of her muscles. She's a sultry mistress on "Gun," peppering the verses with blasts of hot breath cloaked in echo. It's a surprisingly sexy performance — almost feline, not unlike something by the Kills — with a muted guitar riff that threatens to explode into noisy catharsis but stubbornly keeps its composure. Elsewhere, Torrini tones down the heat in favor of winsome innocence, mimicking a percussive instrument on "Jungle Drum" and filling "Big Jumps" with strings of endearing doop-de-doop vocals and a commercial pop chorus. Several songs also cement her musical connection to Björk — an easy link to make, perhaps, given the women's shared Icelandic heritage, but a factual one nevertheless — and tunes like "Birds" and "Heard It All Before" show that both singers employ similar vocal ticks. Elsewhere, Torrini's material evokes the jazzy cadence of Inara George or even the reggae-tinged swagger of Lily Allen, particularly on the album's breezy title track. Yet comparisons to other artists don't quite do Emiliana Torrini justice, as she's carved out her own sonic space over the course of several albums. With its wide array of genres — all executed with earnestness and confidence — Me and Armini emerges as an album suitable for bookworms and beach bunnies, homebodies and world travelers, dancers and wallflowers....full text |
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| Musicomh |
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Probably best known internationally for her contribution to the Lord Of The Rings soundtrack - Gollum's Song - this beguiling new album, her second for Rough Trade, may well net her new fans. Working again with producer Dan Carey, this is a different animal from the intimate, atmospheric and often acoustic Fisherman's Woman; it feels more textured, more experimental, harking back in places to earlier offering Love In The Time Of Science, with its scattering of trippy, glittering beats, only building on that sound, enriching it. Her voice remains a beautiful thing, sweet, lilting and almost childlike at times, but capable of conveying emotion, both pleasure and pathos, when it needs to. This is evident from the opening track onwards, especially amidst the reggae style sound of the title track Me And Arnini, a song of obsession and yearning, that is both playful and slightly sinister....full text |
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