Twisted Nursery Rhymes with a Pixiesque Backdrop
Little Old Me | 06/27/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Black Box Recorder is a hidden treasure and their first album, "England Made Me", is by far their best work. A hauntingly shy voice, behind the low tones of a variety of instruments, make up the collection, harvesting and provoking the silly thoughts of morbid children: Life is Unfair, Kill Yourself or Get Over it ("Child Psychology"). Each song on the album, possesses its own charisma, sometimes playing on the ideas of death and decay and other times relishing is mischevious childhood fantasies. "Girl Singing In the Wreckage" is a ballad of a young woman examining her very state of being, acknowledging the sad normality of her existance and at the same time, inventing a sense of mystery about herself. The track "England Made Me", weaves a tale of a disturbing characters who admits to 'sleeping with the enemy before betraying both sides'. For the poet in all of us, the lyrics are infactuating. For the musician in all of us, the tunes are somber and delightful. One can expect Black Box Recorder to take you from your bedroom in the attic to an enchanted pixie-garden, where the faeries read H.P. Lovecraft, steal cars and smoke cigarettes until dawn.
- Jonathan H."
Mordant and Shimmering
Theseus | US of A | 12/07/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The songs here are so alluringly gloomy that I want to have sex with all of them. But of course they'd reject me. They always do."
Sugar Coated Pills
Demetrius A. Armstrong | Huntington, WV USA | 04/27/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"There was really nothing quite like "England Made Me" when it appeared in 1999. Black Box Recorder consists of Sarah Nixey, John Moore, and Luke Haines formerly known for his time with The Autuers. While Black Box Recorder did retain the same highly literate quality The Autuers bought to their songs, they dove deeper into the coated and subtle nuances of English life. The mix of lovely pop tunes with the ice cold pragmatism of Haines and Moore's lyrics filtered through Sarah Nixey's whispery vocals has the effect of poison....that's been sweetened. "England Made Me" could pass through the ears as a whisper in the background, or it could pull on your heart strings so heavily that it melts everything around it. As they touch on everything from childhood depression to kidnap and murder, they achieved a mix of social commentary and melodic pop accessibility that would only be bettered by their next album.
STANDOUT TRACKS: 02- ENGLAND MADE ME, 06- CHILD PSYCHOLOGY, 10- KIDNAPPING AN HEIRESS, 13- WONDERFUL LIFE, 15- FACTORY RADIO"
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1