Bobby Gillespie and
Jehnny Beth have such distinctive styles that it should be easy to predict what a collaboration from them might sound like. However, on
Utopian Ashes, the
Primal Scream frontman sets aside his band's suffocating paranoia-rock and the former
Savages leader lets down her guard on lush, elegantly heartbroken duets inspired by the likes of
George Jones and
Tammy Wynette or
Lee Hazlewood and
Nancy Sinatra (in fact, one of the first songs
Beth and
Gillespie performed together was a cover of the latter duo's "Some Velvet Morning").
Gillespie wrote most of the album's tale of a failing marriage, and though he takes the lead on many of its songs,
Beth is an able accomplice, chiming in with chilly harmonies on the quiet despair of "English Town" and trading verses on "Remember We Were Lovers"' amber-hued memories.
Utopian Ashes is at its finest when
Beth's and
Gillespie's voices and viewpoints get equal time, as on "Your Heart Will Always Be Broken," a tribute to the tenderness lingering in a relationship that's too bad to stay in, but too good to leave. It's particularly interesting to hear
Beth use her voice melodically, since that wasn't always a priority in her other music. In the best possible way, her clipped, vibrato-laden delivery is an outlier amongst the album's smooth arrangements and
Gillespie's looser performances; as good as the two sound together, the contrast between their voices embodies the differences that tear apart
Utopian Ashes' husband and wife. The record's expert musicianship is another vital part of its success. Luxe strings and brass make "Chase It Down" a grand opening salvo, and members of
Primal Scream and
Beth's partner
Johnny Hostile help
Gillespie and
Beth evoke styles as different as the countrypolitan gallop of "You Can Trust Me Now" and the Latin-tinged "Stones of Silence." The rare breakup album that sounds happier as it nears its end,
Utopian Ashes saves some of its greatest moments of pathos for last.
Beth and
Gillespie echo "Some Velvet Morning"'s psychedelic magic on "We're Living a Lie," a shimmering mirage of happiness bedecked with a swirling harp and seductive tremolo guitar. Likewise, "Sunk in Reverie" closes the album with knife-twisting, air-kissing betrayal set to deceptively sunny acoustic strumming. By pushing each other out of their comfort zones,
Beth and
Gillespie make
Utopian Ashes an unabashedly theatrical -- and consistently entertaining -- look at falling out of love. ~ Heather Phares
![Midnights [Jade Green Edition] [Edited]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0602448247032_p0_v3_s90x140.jpg "Midnights [Jade Green Edition] [Edited]")
