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State Of Grace, an English dance-pop led by
vocalist Sarah Simmonds and guitarist Paul Arnall,
debuted with a string of singles that were derivative of
Cocteau Twins' dream-pop while
targeting the rave crowd:
Camden (1992), Love Pain And Passion, Miss You.
The singles were later collected on
Pacific Motion (3rd Stone, 1994), together with assorted rarities.
Their forte were the extended remixes of those singles, lengthy acid
"trips" that satisfied the rave's demand for highly charged dance music.
After perfecting arrangements and heightening the rhythmic tension,
the band began resembling a less accomplished Saint Etienne on
Jamboreebop (RCA, 1996). Simmonds is no disco diva and can't lift
the songs from their torpid hypnosis.
Mostly, the epic fanfare of Fluorescent Sea,
the arcane and desolate atmosphere of And Love Will Fall
(reminiscent of Lycia),
the symphonic Smile and the sexy
Hello (the 1995 hit single, with Curved Air-y violin and middle-eastern
percussion)
fluctuate in a limbo between dream-pop and synth-pop, enveloped in
dense cloud of meandering keyboards and psychedelic guitars.
State Of Grace are on their home turf when they stretch out in extended rave
tracks. Bitter Sun (11 minutes) starts with a breezy Cocteau Twins-style
solfeggio over a surreal organ carillon and a thick carpet of booming
percussions, but later accelerates in a
wild Stone Roses shuffle that soars
in a deafening crescendo.
Two of the early singles appear again:
the Camden remix (8 minutes) is an ethereal, dilated raga-infected
psychedelic jam;
the Ruby Sky remix (10 minutes) has a folkish feeling, as if the
Fairport Convention played Magical Mystery Tour.
All in all, the album is a milestone of British dance-pop.
Everyone Else's Universe (3rd Stone, 1997)
puts progressive-rock to a dance rhythm with the
22-minute six-part suite Conspiracy and indulges in
seductive, languid ambient with See-Saw (9 minutes).
Sometimes (State of Grace, 1999), and its remixes on More
(State Of Grace, 2000), are even too stubborn in their quest for
atmospheric albeit danceable sounds.
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