Emiliana Torrini - 'Me and Armini' (Rough Trade) Released 08/09/09

The grape hangs on the vine awaiting optimum intensity of fruit and polyphenolic ripeness. For Emiliana Torrini (of Icelandic / Italian extraction), the fruit-bloom of 'Me and Armini' are there for the taking. With her third album proper (her seventh in Iceland), 'Me and Armini' has Emiliana Torrini working with long-time producer Dan Carey (Franz Ferdinand, Hot Chip), and the results of the pairing are a declaration of intent along the lines of Brian Wilson with the maverick genius of Van Dyke Parks.

Moving on from the Nick Drake-ian woodsy-nymph folksiness of 2005's 'Fisherman's Woman' and the 'Gollum's Song' she laid down for Lord of The Rings, Torrini and Carey bookend minimal Scout Nibblett-style stripped renditions and heart-worn ballads with rousing reggae skanks, working Torrini's vocal like a female counterpart to Horace Andy. Textures cure the catch throughout, with subtlety the active word amongst a smorgasbord of rhythms. Torrini's Scandinavian peaches-and-cream vocals evoke the Yael Naim, Stina Nordenstam and Victoria Bergsman (Taken By Trees / Peter, Bjorn & John) range, and phew wee,  thankfully, Torrini chooses the English tongue.

'Fireheads' stirs down a reluctant affair, stating "...it's not fair to say we wasted time/ in my view we just used it all up..." with a feminine self-assuredness as a solo guitar tousles with breezy drum brushes, and 'Birds' shows a poetess without pretense as a Stephanie Dosen-esque / Vashti Bunyan nature paean talks of flying and gently lifts on it's dreamy / psychcoustica thermals, all gorgeousness and gorgeousity. 'Ha Ha' riffs and laughs at the drunken foibles and wasted years of another - "...anger steaming up your glasses...did you see me laughing in your head when I saw you stuck in a rut again...", and 'Bleeder' has a Damien Rice-like cauterisation that's impossible to ignore - "...and thing's go wrong/ you find you're a bleeder..." as strings wilt.

Attention is piqued by the sequencing of the heart-worn numbers with a verve for r.i.d.d.i.m as on the skanking title track 'Me and Armini' that wears a rhythm with tight-assed jeans and production wizardry as Torrini recounts the tale of a true-life stalker of hers, while 'Heard It All Before' ups the ante with hand-claps to a throbbing skank and a shake-up like a no-bullshit Sia. The minimal 'Gun' stalks with explosive funky reverb aplenty as Torrini cuts in with "ha" witchery and stirs up some predatory menace - "...now your woman has a fellow in her bed...", and it's knife-edge nervous tension with murderous intent.

Word-play and onomatopoeia is used to dandy effect as on the heart-a-flutter sure to be a hit 'Jungle Drum' - a belter of energy of a woamn in the throes of lurve and the expressions abounding like firecrackers - "...my heart is beating like a jungle drum/ rucka-rung-ducka- tung-tung-tung...", and the go-on-take-a-leap of  'Big Jumps' takes a popsy traipse ala Lily Allen that uses some of the best "do do do do do do" lines heard since Lou's Walk On The Wild side, while on 'Hold Heart' Torrini holds the top notes with a howling beauty -  "...don't make a sowwwwwund..." and such-like to a Spanish guitar. 'Dead Duck' seems entirely comprised of word association - "...brick/ brock/ tick/ tock/ stole/ the/ dead/ duck...", colliding with sonic textures and ricocheting incongruities that harbour a waltz. And who could turn down a waltz.

Try stirring down a smoking gun. Torrini ain't messing about. She ain't no household name here, but the season's changing. The fun of one-take recording is captured, not with an intensity of "shoot, this is costing a packet", but with confidence and playfulness in hand. Torrini and Carey's relationship is inspired no-less, easier to understand when hearing they were in the shadows of wider recognition for co-writing / producing Kylie's rousing whopper, 'Slow'. Smart and assured with a variety show of riddim splendour, watch it become one of '08's leftfield showstoppers.