Skin - 'Trashed' (EMI)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
You wouldn't call a liar any man who said Skin was essentially the heart and soul of the multi-million selling Skunk Anansie; all those other guys seemed to do was to make the only kind of music you can make when you're playing as the backing band to a wild, screaming bald-headed front-woman: hard, riff-dominated, blazing rock.
Or so it appeared, anyway. For now, Skin has gone her own way, leaving the abrasive heaviness of her previous employers, but on this evidence, also running off with the tunes whilst they weren't looking.
Unashamedly radio-friendly and irresistibly infectious, 'Trashed's openly pop nature is enabled instant credibility by the one thing that has always separated Skin from her peers... we're not talking the baldness either; she's actually grown some hair this time round... but it is, of course, that voice - that unmistakeable, amazingly powerful voice. She might be singing what is essentially just another love song ('I know I have to live without you, I can only bend so far...' - poor thing), but, as with anything vital, it's the delivery - uttered in a vein so utterly heartfelt, so sweet one minute - and then so crushing the next.
We've missed this, and we should be glad to have it back, whatever guise it comes in. Whether it's a pop path she's forging or making a racket over some heavy rock 'n' roll, one thing's for certain - Skin means it just as much.
Artists in this article: Skin
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