As Tricky's on and off-stage partner she thrived creatively, but when the dust settled on that partnership she struggled to step out of his shadow. Her excellent debut album Quixotic put a lot of doubts to rest,but Carnies, the first single from her upcoming second album The Blue God, sounds like a musical mis-step.

Topley-Bird's voice is the kind that sounds best when it's given room to breath; she has a natural talent for phrasing and tempo that brings to mind Ella Fitzgerald or billie holiday.On Carnie's it's drowning in the utter ordinariness of the song's instrumentation, a kind of Merseybeat shuffle that would probably sound fine with some 60s dolly bird on vocals.

It's a decent enough song, but it really does very little for Topley Bird - where before she was content to let her singular talent drip like honey, here she's trying too hard for a lightweight, poppy hit, and it shows. Here's hoping Tricky remixes it, ASAP...

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