Send "Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 Much has been made of the duo of Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, specifically in regards to their unlikely pairing. Campbell, of course, rose to indie fame in Belle and Sebastian, serving as the quiet and sexy foil to the studious and inquisitive Stuart Murdoch. Along with the rest of B&S, Campbell and Murdoch made twee indie gems before her 2002 departure, deftly blending reflective chamber folk with acutely articulate character sketches. Lanegan, conversely, was anything but twee, serving stints in Screaming Trees and later in Queens of the Stone Age. So, when the two first got together for 2006’s Ballad of the Broken Seas, many assumed this was just another Svengali tale: the assertive, worldly male guiding the submissive, timid female. The duo, however, have forged what can by now—three albums into their collaboration—be considered a career by turning such gender expectations on their heads. Campbell has taken the lead on each of their three albums, serving as the main writer, producer, and arranger; while Lanegan has played the role of gun-for-hire, dependably solid in fulfilling his vocal duties. On Campbell and Lanegan’s third album, Hawk, this subversion of outmoded gender roles lends the album a sexy tension. While it’s Lanegan’s incendiary growl that gives many of the tracks the abrasive grit they need to be believable, Campbell’s siren-like whispers both temper and buoy his vocals, coming in at the edges to gently nudge them back, then floating weightlessly underneath them....full text |
| Bbc |
| The most unlikely pairing in rock is now three albums old, and still it’s surprising that Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan have very much in common at all, let alone the ability to inhabit the same songs. Yet for all the eyebrows raised by a country-folk partnership between the fragrant, whisper-voiced founding member and cellist of Belle and Sebastian and the former ‘exhaustion’-prone ex-junkie singer with Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age, it’s a union that just keeps on giving, with the steelier, more focussed Hawk the best they’ve given yet. They may take co-billing, but the plaudits all belong to Campbell. As much as Lanegan’s gruff, Marlboros ’n’ bourbon growl is a draw card, Campbell is writer, producer, arranger and constant counterpoint to Lanegan’s malevolence. Hawk cements her standing alongside maverick serial collaborators such as Kurt Wagner and Will Oldham. It’s in the way she blends country, blues and deep soul into something entirely her own, like a latter-day Bobbie Gentry. Come Undone revisits the torn yet unconditional love of Bettye LaVette’s Let Me Down Easy and James Brown’s It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World; You Won’t Let Me Down Again (with former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha on guitar) and Snake Song are black-hearted warnings to anyone who dares get too close; and Get Behind Me is a nail-hard bar-room stomp. Sunrise – a solo Campbell track – could be Richard Hawley playing alongside Nancy Sinatra; Cool Water, one of two duets with Willy Mason, is a piece of lo-fi Johnny Cash and June Carter playfulness; Eyes of Green filters a Celtic ballad through Appalachian backwaters; and Lately revels in a touch of Hammond-led gospel to close the album on a joyous high. It’s also a sly nod to Bob Dylan, a particular Campbell hero: never one for the pernicious act of front-loading, pick up almost any Dylan album and the final track, as with Lately, will likely be amongst its best. Go on, try it....full text |
| Guardian |
| Isobel Campbell made a smart move when she engaged Mark Lanegan as her singing partner in 2004. But listening to Hawk, their third album together, the thought occurs that she might make an even smarter move, by hiring another female vocalist as his foil. The pleasure of Campbell flitting like a will-o'-the-wisp in the cracks between Lanegan's fierce, parched growls is predictable now. Hawk impresses instead with its signs of Campbell's increased confidence as songwriter, arranger and producer. That assurance is obvious in the rollicking blues of Get Behind Me, more subtle in Time of the Season, a Christmas song rippling with warm summer breezes. At the microphone, however, Campbell remains diffident, lacking the expressive character that might make lines like "you knew I'd been with dirty dogs" or "I'm in a spin, I've been to hell and back again" sound true. Without it, her songs are never as effective as they might be, for all Lanegan's vivid passion....full text |
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan lyrics
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