- Nostalgia – it’s a dangerous beastie. Some artistes trade in it exclusively, almost like they are clinging to the wreckage of a once great career. Others reject it savagely, usually without a lot of success. There is a third way, the performer who acknowledges what the listening public will want to hear and gently moves in a direction that satisfies both artistic integrity and public acceptance. Alison Moyet has been bending emotions around soundscapes for nigh on thirty-five years and seems to have taken the third way as her preferred track to remaining relevant in the twenty-first century.

It’s been four years since her previous release The Minutes and she’s back with producer and writing collaborator Guy Sigsworth. The connection between singer and producer via a writing partnership bears rich fruit on Other, an album that has some of her early days as a bit of a dance/electro diva in evidence, but that’s not all. The first release from the album, Reassuring Pinches borrows a little from her past and pitches musical experimentation (the use of triads) against her clear diction which could cut crystal, if she had such a desire.

Moyet was always able to rip emotion from the blankest of verses and she has said that in writing this album, her lyrics were observational, rather than emotional. That’s an interesting thought, as she’s still using her rich mezzo voice to prise open responses from the listener. Throughout Other Moyet does step from one place to another, such as with the sweeping anthem Rarest Birds and then unnervingly right back to her early days with Vince Clarke in Yazoo on the sparse but compelling Lover Go, or the ostensibly fun Happy Giddy. However, that track comes immediately after a surprising (in a good way) inclusion April 10, a spoken word piece over a mesmerising drone that has the listener stapled to each line, eager to hear “what happened next” in the story.

The title track, and also the album’s closer Alive, bring out the soulful aspects of Moyet’s rich vocal tones, though musically they are wildly apart. The former, a simple piano accompaniment, the latter almost menacing electronic pulses and heavy chords that match Moyet’s singing. It neatly packages the album, as the first track I Germinate is of the stuff that Björk or ANOHNI may produce: dark and broody but making a statement for the nine tracks that follow to match. Even if those tracks are nowhere near the same, check out the grammarian’s lament (or is it?) The English U and the seductive bass driven rocker Beautiful Gun (is that a euphemism in your chord progression, Ms Moyet?)

Other forms the basis for her first tour around the globe (and including Australia in October) in thirty years, so it will be intriguing to see her put these ten offerings out there with some of her earlier works. Given that she’s only released nine albums over that period, Moyet seems to prefer, like Kate Bush or Roisin Murphy quality over quantity and the listener who spends an afternoon with Other won’t be bored.

- Blair Martin.