Keren Ann - La Disparition (2002)

Downtempo, melancholic French folk pop/chanson from the eternally pensive Keren Ann. Fingerpicked acoustic guitars, wavering strings, barely-there percussion, jazzy pianos, and muted horns provide a lush, autumnal backdrop for Ann's warm, whispery voice. It's all extremely easy on the ears. As much as I love this record, I actually thought of it as a result of my previous post due to its inclusion of one of the earliest instances of intentional AutoTune abuse of which I'm aware: the trip-hop flavored outlier "La corde et les chaussons".

Track listing:

1. Au coin du monde

2. Le sable mouvant

3. Les rivières de janvier

4. La corde et les chaussons

5. Surannée

6. Ailleurs

7. L'illusioniste

8. La tentation

9. Mes pans dans la neige

10. Le chien d'avant garde

11. La disparition

Restons ici, le soleil est moins pâle, le vent moins sidéral

L'eau est bleue, bleu foncé, tu t'endors

Also listen to:

Astrud Gilberto - I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do (1969)

Pierre Bachelet - Pierre Bachelet (1975)

Frazier Chorus - Wide Awake (1995)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Frazier Chorus - Sue (1989)

Third and final album from the quietly brilliant Frazier Chorus. On Wide Awake, they embraced a smooth, R&B-ish, 90s production style, with palm muted guitars, downtempo beats, muted horn lines, and other stuff that might make for good make-out music if you don't listen to the lyrics.

Track listing:

1. Wide Awake

2. If the Weather Was Up to Me

3. Bye-Bye Little Bird

4. Here We Are

5. Take Us Away

6. Driving

7. Lie, Mimic and Mime

8. Sound Asleep

How did I read the stars so wrong?

If you like this, listen to:

Nona Hendryx - SkinDiver (1989)

Ega and Alice - 24 Years of Hunger (1991)

Mark Isham - Mark Isham (1990)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Mark Isham - Castalia (1988)
Mark Isham - Tibet (1989)

More artful, ambient jazz from trumpeter Mark Isham. Some songs -- particularly the ones featuring the simmering vocals of Tanita Takiram -- lean heavier into adult-contempo, and land in similarly evocative, nocturnal territory as The Blue Nile, circa Hats. Also features the glistening, fluid guitar stylings of David Torn.

Track listing:
1. Honeymoon Nights
2. I Will Never Know
3. Marionette
4. An Eye on the World
5. Blue Moon
6. Ashes and Diamonds
7. Toward the Infinite White
8. Songs of the Flying Fish
9. Turkish Delight

To forget for a moment

If you like this, listen to:

Manfred Schoof & Rainer Brüninghaus -
Shadows & Smiles (1989)

John Taylor, Norma Winston,
& Kenny Wheeler - Azimuth (1977)

Rain Tree Crow - Rain Tree Crow (1991)

Related:
Japan - Adolescent Sex (1978)
David Sylvian & Holger Szukay - Plight & Premonition (1988) + Flux & Mutability (1989)
David Sylvian - Approaching Silence (1999)
David Sylvian - Blemish (2003)

Rain Tree Crow was all four members of Japan, reunited under a new moniker to signify the more experimental direction that they'd taken. Their one-off album is an absolute masterpiece of shimmering, slowburning art rock, and possibly my favorite album David Sylvian's ever been a part of, which, considering he's one of my favorite musicians, is really saying something.

Track listing:
1. Big Wheels in Shanty Town
2. Every Colour You Are
3. Rain Tree Crow
4. Red Earth (As Summertime Ends)
5. Pocket Full of Change
6. Boat's for Burning
7. New Moon at Red Deer Wallow
8. Blackwater
9. A Reassuringly Dull Sunday
10. Blackcrow Hits Shoe Shine City
11. Scratchings on the Bible Belt
12. Cries and Whispers
13. I Drink to Forget

I put no trust in milestones

You might also wanna hear:

Adrian Belew -
Lone Rhino (1982)

No-Man -
Together We're Stranger (2003)

Akira Inoue - Splash (1983)

Smooth, lush Japanese synthpop. Tinges of fusion and new wave round out a shimmering, positively heavenly sound.

Track listing:
1. さまよえるオランダ人のように
2. アドリアン・ブルー
3. 異星 （ソラリス）の女
4. Le Plongeur
5. Eleven Islands
6. サファリ・オスティナート
7. リンダ・ラルー （ラムの大通りにて）
8. 海底2万マイル
9. オンディーヌ

Lost passengers

You should also listen to:

Frazier Chorus -
Sue (1989)

Care -
Diamonds & Emeralds (1997)

The Beautiful South - Welcome to the Beautiful South (1989)

Debut LP from The Beautiful South, a band formed from the ashes of The Housemartins. Jangle-y, sugary, "adult alternative"-sounding songs that belie their sardonic, even nihilistic lyrical content. Also, one my favorite album covers.

Track listing:
1. Song for Whoever
2. Have You Ever Been Away?
3. From Under the Corners
4. I'll Sail This Ship Alone
5. Girlfriend
6. Straight in at 37
7. You Keep It All In
8. Woman in the Wall
9. Oh Blackpool
10. Love Is
11. I Love You (But You're Boring)

I don't know, I don't care
I'm just glad that I wasn't there

You might also like:

Nona Hendryx -
SkinDiver (1989)

Eg and Alice -
24 Years of Hunger (1991)

Nona Hendryx - SkinDiver (1989)

An alluring, lush album of artfully crafted, R&B-flavored, downtempo pop. From what I understand, SkinDiver is a relatively experimental outlier in Hendryx's otherwise radio-friendly discography, and the only other one I've heard, Female Trouble, is certainly enjoyable, but also seems to confirm this. SO explore her other records at your own risk.

Track listing:
1. Off the Coast of Love
2. Women Who Fly
3. No Emotion
4. Love Is Kind
5. Tears
6. Skin Diver
7. 6th Sense
8. Through the Wire
9. Interior Voices
10. New Desire

There's a man, unaware
He calls it happiness

If you like this, check out:
Eg & Alice - 24 Years of Hunger (1991)

Eg and Alice - 24 Years of Hunger (1991)

24 Years of Hunger is so sophisticated and subtle, it's hard to believe that it's the result of a one-off collaboration between two then-unknowns [EDIT: Ignore that part. An astute commenter noted that Eg previously was a member of a boy band, of whom I had never heard, called Brother Beyond. Do you know them? I guess they had a number of hits. So maybe, just maybe, I should stop pulling ill-informed 'facts' out of my ass.] and not that of a team of seasoned studio veterans. This is mostly laid-back, smooth pop/R&B with simple but evocative lyrics. Kinda reminds me of D'Angelo's Voodoo -- not in the sense that they necessarily sound the same, but that despite being pop records, it's hard to imagine a mainstream audience fully embracing them. So although it makes sense that this record wasn't a hit, the internet really should have granted it more retroactive fame by now.

[9/2/18: Updated with much better rip.]

Track listing:
1. Rockets
2. In a Cold Way
3. Mystery Man
4. And I Have Seen Myself
5. So High So Low
6. New Year's Eve
7. Indian
8. Doesn't Mean That Much to Me
9. Crosstown
10. I Wish

You always talk of suicide
Well, you know that talk is cheap