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The sophomore effort from Georgia-raised, Britain-based vocalist Kristina Train, 2012's Dark Black is a brooding, atmospheric collection of slow-burn pop songs that put her burnished, sultry croon at the fore. Picking up where 2009's Spilt Milk left off, Dark Black finds Train once again working with British singer/songwriter Ed Harcourt, as well as songwriter/producer Martin Craft. Together, they've come up with an album that builds upon Train's twangy Southern roots layered with a baroque, cinematic aesthetic. Train's vocals are often drenched in an echo-chamber sound, often backed with boomy, resonant percussion, languid piano parts, eerie orchestral sections, shimmering baritone guitar lines, and even some light electronic flourishes. In that sense, the album brings to mind the work of such similarly minded contemporaries as singer/guitarist Richard Hawley and neo-soft rock singer Rumer as much as it does the classic soul-inflected '60s sound of Dusty Springfield. While the songs here are deeply romantic and memorable, they take their time to unfold before giving up any big, melodic hooks -- which they certainly have. Mood setting is clearly a large part of Train's dramatic style, and cuts like the yearning, Roy Orbison-sounding "Dream of Me" and the Jacques Brel-esque ballad "Saturdays Are the Greatest" envelope you with a kind of late-afternoon melancholy, long before they level you with their heartbreaking lyrical poignancy. Ultimately, on Dark Black, Train is a master at keeping us on the edge of our seats, and by the time she presents a song's big pop reveal, as she does on the title track's darkly ironic reappropriation of Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale," she already has us hooked.
© Matt Collar /TiVo
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Kristina Train, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Martin Craft, Producer, Mixer, Guitar, Keyboards, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist - Daniel Rejmer, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2012 Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Limited
Jamie Morrison, Drums, Percussion, AssociatedPerformer - Kristina Train, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - James Lewis, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Richard Woodcraft, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Martin Craft, Producer, Guitar, Keyboards, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Frank Rollock, Kettledrums, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 2012 Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Limited
Jamie Morrison, Drums, AssociatedPerformer - Kristina Train, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - David Holmes, Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Martin Craft, Producer, Guitar, Keyboards, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Dan Rejmer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Dave Kosten, Mixer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2012 Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Limited
Creighton Barrett, ComposerLyricist - Kristina Train, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Ben Christophers, Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion, Piano, AssociatedPerformer - James Hampton, ComposerLyricist - Benjamin Bridwell, ComposerLyricist - Dave Kosten, Producer, Mixer, Drums, Keyboards, Percussion, Recording Engineer, Programming, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2012 Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Limited
Kristina Train, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Philippe Weiss, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Ed Harcourt, Producer, Drums, Guitar, Piano, Recording Engineer, Background Vocalist, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist, Bass (Vocal)
℗ 2012 Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Limited
Kristina Train, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - David Holmes, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Martin Craft, Producer, Mixer, Guitar, Keyboards, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist - Rupert Clervaux, Drums, AssociatedPerformer - Daniel Rejmer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2012 Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Limited
Kristina Train, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Ben Christophers, Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion, Piano, AssociatedPerformer - Simon Aldred, ComposerLyricist - Dave Kosten, Producer, Mixer, Drums, Keyboards, Percussion, Recording Engineer, Programming, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2012 Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Limited
Jamie Morrison, Drums, AssociatedPerformer - Kristina Train, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Mike Crossey, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - David Holmes, Producer, Assistant Producer - Martin Craft, Producer, Guitar, Keyboards, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Ross Orton, Producer, Assistant Producer - Daniel Rejmer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2012 Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Limited
Jamie Morrison, Drums, AssociatedPerformer - Kristina Train, Violin, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Martin Craft, Producer, Mixer, Guitar, Keyboards, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist - Greta Eacott, Marimba, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 2012 Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Limited
Kristina Train, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Justin Parker, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Ed Harcourt, ComposerLyricist - Danton Paul Supple, Producer, Mixer, Programmer, StudioPersonnel - Luke Southwell, Programmer
℗ 2012 Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Limited
Kristina Train, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Martin Craft, Producer, Mixer, String Arranger, Piano, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel - David Coulter, Percussion, AssociatedPerformer - Simon Aldred, Acoustic Guitar, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2012 Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Limited
Van Dyke Parks, String Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Kristina Train, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Tom Hough, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Gita Harcourt, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Amy Stanford, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Ed Harcourt, Producer, Mixer, Piano, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel, ComposerLyricist - Sam Wheat, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Xavier Stephenson, Asst. Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Jessie Murphy, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Thomas Gould, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Laura Anstee, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Rosie Langley, Strings, AssociatedPerformer - Eleanor Stanford, Strings, AssociatedPerformer - Nozomi Cohen, Viola, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 2012 Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Limited
Tyran Carlo, ComposerLyricist - Kristina Train, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Ben Christophers, Guitar, Piano, AssociatedPerformer - Berry Gordy, ComposerLyricist - Rosie Langley, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Harriet Wiltshire, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Dave Kosten, Producer, Mixer, Drums, Engineer, Keyboards, Percussion, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2013 Universal Music Operations Limited
Mia Cooper, String Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Kristina Train, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Ciaran Byrne, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Brian Byrne, Producer, Piano, Recording Arranger, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Kasey Jones, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2013 Universal Music Operations Limited
Album review
The sophomore effort from Georgia-raised, Britain-based vocalist Kristina Train, 2012's Dark Black is a brooding, atmospheric collection of slow-burn pop songs that put her burnished, sultry croon at the fore. Picking up where 2009's Spilt Milk left off, Dark Black finds Train once again working with British singer/songwriter Ed Harcourt, as well as songwriter/producer Martin Craft. Together, they've come up with an album that builds upon Train's twangy Southern roots layered with a baroque, cinematic aesthetic. Train's vocals are often drenched in an echo-chamber sound, often backed with boomy, resonant percussion, languid piano parts, eerie orchestral sections, shimmering baritone guitar lines, and even some light electronic flourishes. In that sense, the album brings to mind the work of such similarly minded contemporaries as singer/guitarist Richard Hawley and neo-soft rock singer Rumer as much as it does the classic soul-inflected '60s sound of Dusty Springfield. While the songs here are deeply romantic and memorable, they take their time to unfold before giving up any big, melodic hooks -- which they certainly have. Mood setting is clearly a large part of Train's dramatic style, and cuts like the yearning, Roy Orbison-sounding "Dream of Me" and the Jacques Brel-esque ballad "Saturdays Are the Greatest" envelope you with a kind of late-afternoon melancholy, long before they level you with their heartbreaking lyrical poignancy. Ultimately, on Dark Black, Train is a master at keeping us on the edge of our seats, and by the time she presents a song's big pop reveal, as she does on the title track's darkly ironic reappropriation of Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale," she already has us hooked.
© Matt Collar /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 14 track(s)
- Total length: 00:48:42
- Main artists: Kristina Train
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: EMI
- Genre: Pop/Rock Pop
© 2013 Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Limited ℗ 2013 Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Limited
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