- In the twenty-four years since since Everything But The Girl’s previous album, Temperamental, released in 1999, the entire music industry has changed. Hell, the entire world has changed, drastically. Members Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt have sporadically released solo material and dropped occasional hints that new work may be forthcoming, with a heavy emphasis on the may. Despite this, most considered the group’s indefinite hiatus had become permanent. Therefore the announcement of a new album, Fuse, was both surprising and welcome to fans, who have anxiously waited almost a quarter century for anything new from the group, be it single, album or remix.

At the time of their hiatus, the pair had released three albums considered highlights of their career. Amplified Heart, Walking Wounded and Temperamental feature some of Everything But The Girl’s most iconic songs. It was on these three records that the duo really honed what they did into something uniquely theirs. Up until now, it seemed like they had simply chosen to go out a on high note, rather than continue to release records that may not be up to the standard set by their, then, final trilogy of albums.

This is not the first time Everything But The Girl’s future seemed uncertain. In 1992 Watt was diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease that required life saving surgery to remove a large piece of necrotised intestine. Thankfully, the current gap between releases wasn't due to any personal tragedy, Thorn and Watt simply chose to focus on family duties, their solo careers and literary ambitions. Also, it turns out, the pair were biding their time, waiting for the right moment to recharge and reignite the long dormant duo.

Lead singles Nothing Left To Lose, Run A Red Light and Caution To The Wind prove the wait was well worth it. Picking up some of the threads left by Temperamental and Walking Wounded, Nothing Left to Lose cannot help but remind one of Todd Terry’s remix of Missing, perhaps the band’s most well known song. Whereas Run A Red Light and Caution To The Wind, channel the dreamy, ethereal electro the group made their own in the mid-to-late ‘nineties.

Time is a common thread on Fuse, whether in the titles or within the lyrics. What we do with time, how we chase, savour or waste it and often how we try to escape it. When You Mess Up has Thorn singing what sounds like a letter to her past self. Full of assurances that we all make mistakes and reminders to not be so hard on herself. Driven by synths, When You Mess Up utilises auto-tune to manipulate Thorn's vocals, giving the impression she is singing from the future, or through the ether.

Another integral theme within Fuse is the sense of loss. The haunting Lost describes a person who has had everything taken from them: job, friends, family and eventually, even their own sense of self. On Forever, Thorn ponders the questions, what do we do then? Completely isolated, where do we go and who do we turn to when we have nothing? Always an underrated lyricist, Forever contains some her best work yet, “Stop thinking of what you’d say from the flames / What you’ll desire / When everything’s on fire / And who’ll be around / When everything’s burned down.”

Fuse is Everything But the Girl at their most minimal and atmospheric, with songs that swirl around and surround the listener. Where past albums, even at their mellowest, featured a danceable, driving beat, allowing them to hold their own in a club, Fuse would be more suitably played at an afterparty to soundtrack the comedown. It's no mean feat for Everything But The Girl: Fuse is unlike anything else in their back-catalogue and while they still acknowledge that past, they have succeeded in making a completely unique statement.

- Nick Stephan.