Meriel Barham
was thanked for extra guitar and vocals on
Half-Life
, an EP released by
Pale Saints
eight months after the band made their full-length debut with
The Comforts of Madness
. An original member of
Lush
,
Barham
soon became indispensable to
. She most obviously fronted the band's 1991 single "Kinky Love" (a cover of a song originally recorded by
Nancy Sinatra
), strangely their highest entry on the U.K. pop chart. That song and its parent EP,
Flesh Balloon
, matched the band with
Hugh Jones
, a producer with whom guitarist
Graeme Naysmith
and drummer
Chris Cooper
were particularly eager to work due to an eye-popping CV that included mutual favorites by the likes of
Echo & the Bunnymen
and
That Petrol Emotion
. With
a fixture and
Jones
still in the fold,
delivered a second standout album of the era with
In Ribbons
. Just as he had recently done for the second LPs by
Ultra Vivid Scene
Kitchens of Distinction
aided in presenting the material with a richness and clarity separating it from the band's first album. The difference is heard from the start with "Throwing Back the Apple," a storming and not-quite-manic pop thrill with
Ian Masters
' lead vocal supported by his and
's enlivening background harmonies. "It hurts so much, but you're close enough to step outside again" indicates a sanguine outlook, but the remainder of the album's occasional buoyancy is conveyed with the odd charged rhythm and profusion of deceptively sugared vocals more often than the lyrics. Fragmentary and suggestive of fever dreams ridden with loss and sickness, the words leave more to the imagination than those of the debut.
's gentle and expressive voice powers "Thread of Light," "Liquid," and "Featherframe," alluring ballads scattered across both sides. In hindsight,
Masters
' handful of unorthodox slow numbers -- the vortex-like "Hair Shoes" and
Robert Fripp
-tinged "Shell" especially -- seem to have helped clear a path for his exit. ~ Andy Kellman