Phil Meadley, The Observer:
Heralded by some as the queen of 'gothic country', Cortney Tidwell has followed February's six-track mini album with a full-blown debut that is similar in feel to the great shoegazing indie albums of the late Eighties, but with a sensuous, lo-fi folk edge. The record showcases a fractured vocal style that's reminiscent of Bjork. Which is strange since Tidwell is from Nashville, although there is very little of a country feel to Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up.
Rather, it revels in distorted electronic sound effects and fluttering beats, providing an icy backdrop to Tidwell's improvised, slurred lyrical style. The confessional 'Pictures on the Sidewalk' makes impressive use of her multi-tracked vocals, while 'I Do Not Notice' sounds so glitch-ridden that the mastering engineer sent it back by mistake.
The album's outstanding track, 'The Tide', couldn't be more different. A blues song in which Tidwell implores a lover to 'stay tonight', it is rivalled only by 'Eyes Are at the Billions' which lulls you into a false state of serenity before a twisted, euphoric wave of sound changes the entire structure of the song.
On the elegiac title track, oddly, Tidwell narrates a tale about being in a doomed relationship with an alien. As an allegory for any ill-fated long-distance relationship, it works beautifully. But then so, too, does most of Tidwell's strange, seductive debut.
Cortney Tidwell
Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled UpEver Records,
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