Search - Attrition :: Etude

Talk about a remix album! Leaving behind both the punky, experimental goth of their early recordings and the muscular industrial-dance of their more recent material, Attrition tackle the classical form on Étude, a disc of string interpretations of several of their more well-known tracks from the '80s and early '90s. You could hear elements of frontman Martin Bowes's affinity for the violin on Attrition's previous album, 3 Arms and a Dead Cert, but here he goes full-on, transforming even some of the band's stormiest electro-dance songs into somber chamber-music suites. Bowes's gruff, world-weary vocals are mostly absent from Étude, allowing Julia Waller's light operatic tones to take center stage amid Franck Dematteis's tragically sad violin and viola arrangements. The sheer beauty of the songs shines through the darkness, highlighting Bowes's ear for both melody and atmosphere. Especially affecting--even without the lovelorn lyrics of the original--is the pared-down version of "A Girl Called Harmony" (from 1991's brilliant A Tricky Business), on which Dematteis seems to cram each pull of his bow with incredible amounts of melancholy. Simply stunning. --Steve Landau