Trost – ‘Trust Me’ (Four Music) Released 11/09/06

If you don’t like foreign films with an eccentric female protagonist you may balk at the idea of this CD. ‘Trust Me’ by Annika Line Trost is much more than an exercise in linguistics. Whether Trost is singing in her native German, French or English she provides an aural pick and mix with a few hidden razor blades. 'Trust Me' is the second solo offering from the 29 year old Berliner.

Trost is no stranger to the music scene having been part of electro punk band Cobra Killer since 1998. Radio friendly pop quirkiness about a beautiful man who swims out into the sea to save the animals caught in nets (Guy Le Superhero) collide with songs about despair (‘Even Sparrows Don’t Want To Stay’) Trost teams up with an unlikely band of partners in crime including The Devastations Tom Carlyion and Conrad Standish and Bad Seed Thomas Wydler.

Despite the CD being recorded in Berlin and Australia it remains to be a seamless tapestry of the human condition. ‘I Was Wrong’ contains sentiments any person can identify with after a break up: ‘‘Keeping your toothbrush was wrong.” The inclusion of little waves of piano, drums and cello engineered by Steve Schram, whose impressive list of  projects include Wolfmother and Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, only adds to the strange beauty of this song.

Although some tracks take longer to grow on you, ‘Trust Me’ is well worth the perseverance. It is a beautifully bruised account of life Jim, but not as we know it. Trost’s soft voice and eclectic choice of material work together surprisingly well. Her voice may seem to be quite ethereal but something in it says "Don’t **** this woman about."

‘Neoland Deadland’ hunts out our frontal lobe with the stealth of a panther as the brass, drums and bass merge in a mix by Trost and Adam-Eve  that can only be likened to finding yourself waking up in a dark alley just as the effects of the pill you took start to kick in. Half of you is freaked out but you find yourself wanting to dance to your own heartbeat.

If you enjoyed Moloko’s ‘Do You Like My Tight Sweater’ but also like things a little darker and dirtier then this is highly recommended.