Isobel Campbell's debut solo album isn't about the music, per se. Instead of drawing the listener into each respective composition, "Amorino," a jazz-driven collection of songs enhanced by a full orchestra, focuses more on conjuring a mood and creating a meandering ambiance than absorbing the listener into pesky details.
There's really no escaping the fact that the label branded on Campbell's former band, Belle & Sebastian, will continue to haunt Campbell: twee. For those unfamiliar with the Briticism, "twee" is used pejoratively to define a band whose music is alluring, charming, but often also sickeningly saccharine. The negative connotations are inexorable. "Amorino," with themes of love sung in Campbell's high-pitched whisper, certainly falls into this category.
To listen to the album, therefore -- really listen to it -- necessitates a mood that perfectly accommodates it. The album wasn't crafted for a casual listen; it prompts a time of intense introspection. In seeming opposition to this is, in truth, the fact that album also makes an exceptional background album -- the breezy flutes and soothing rhythms are perfectly suited for cocktails, or perhaps a day on West Palm Beach, in the 1950s old-glamour sort of way.
Were it not for Campbell's vocals, much of what's here could be mistaken for the repertoire of someone like Sarah Vaughan, particularly a track like "The Breeze Whispered Your Name." The difference between Campbell and Vaughan, however, is that Vaughan has the vocal prowess to carry the lilting instrumentation in a way that Campbell's airy vocals cannot.
To its credit, "Amorino" does not make any pretense of being what it is not -- Campbell has kept the lyrical content as light as the music. From recalling a love lost (the aforementioned "Breeze") and eventually accepting it ("There is No Greater Gold") to mutual adoration ("This Land Floods with Milk"), none of the subject matter weighs down the music.
In reality, the music at times holds back the lyrics. "The Cat's Pyjamas" attempts to capture a Big Band sound that fails in a big way -- Campbell does not have the power, charisma or range to successfully emulate the sound. Lyrically, the song succeeds in defying the twee label by charming without nauseating, but the music drags it down.
Part of the album's problems lies in the production. While Campbell's voice is inarguably weak -- beautiful, but feeble -- the instrumentation unnecessarily overshadows it in nearly every song. While the background admittedly does contribute more to the mood than the vocals, bringing the vocals to the forefront would have led to a very different album. As it stands, no amount of stereo reconfiguration can accentuate the frail soprano enough to make it work. While Campbell's voice still adds a certain element to the tracks -- the instrumentals on the album are by far the weakest tracks -- it simultaneously bars the album from being all that it could have been.
These problems are consistent throughout the album. Ironically, while Belle & Sebastian's latest album, the first without Campbell, "Dear Catastrophe Waitress," is the most spontaneous and farthest from twee in their deep catalogue, "Amorino" is plagued by predictability. Several tracks are nearly indistinguishable, and while themes are generally productive, cohesive constructs to have, they prove tedious when bound to such a song structure that is driven into the ground.
For all its flaws, however, "Amorino" is an intriguing debut from a clearly talented songstress. Amid a mindset in modern rock that intensity is the hallmark of songwriting, Campbell's album is a refreshing step back, both in nostalgia and in pace. Putting everything else aside, the actual compositions are nothing short of beautiful. The potential is certainly there for a strong sophomore effort, as there is certainly room to grow.
And yet the problem remains that, as a whole, "Amorino" is bland and unremarkable, criticism certainly not foreign to Campbell when she played Belle to Stuart Murdoch's Sebastian. With any luck, however, Campbell will continue in the spirit of her former band and move past the occasional somewhat prosaic album to bigger and better things.
Grade: 2 stars
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