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Tarnation - Gentle Creatures (1995)

Track listing:
  1. Game of Broken Hearts 3:01
  2. Halfway to Madness 4:39
  3. The Well 6:08
  4. Big O Motel 6:02
  5. Tell Me It's Not So 2:24
  6. Two Wrongs Won't Make Things Right 4:09
  7. Lonely Lights 2:03
  8. Gentle Creatures 1:25
  9. Listen to the Wind 3:46
  10. The Hand 2:42
  11. Do You Fancy me 2:36
  12. Yellow Birds 3:50
  13. Burn Again 2:40
  14. Stranger In the Mirror 3:58
  15. It's Not Easy 3:34

Notes

Given that Tarnation's frontwoman Paula Frazer is best known for her work with the L.A. post-punk band Frightwig — and since Gentle Creatures is, after all, a product of the arty 4AD label — the absolute-torch-and-twang authenticity that defines the record is a wonderful surprise; ethereal yet earthy, the album's strength derives from all of its seeming contradictions. Powered by Frazer's deft songwriting and smoky vocals, Gentle Creatures is melancholy and gorgeous, its love songs and ballads cloaked in reverb and gothic imagery. What Tarnation shares with its 4AD stablemates is an uncanny knack to build and maintain a rich, dense atmosphere; the record is dusky and otherworldly, haunted by the spirits of failed relationships, late-night radio transmissions, and other ghostly presences.

Tarnation are Lincoln Allen, Michelle Cernuto, Paula Frazer and Matt Wendell Sullivan. Write to P. O. Box 410772, San Francisco, CA 94141-0772. Written by Paula Frazer. Produced by Joshua Heller, Warren Defever (His Name Is Alive) and Wally Sound. Engineered by Myles Boisen. Recorded at Guerilla Euphonics, Oakland, CA, Warren's House, Livonia, MI and Wally Sound, San Francisco. Featuring Carla Fabrizio. «Burn Again» written by Michelle Cernuto. «Stranger in the Mirror» written by Lincoln Allen.