EVERYONE YOU HOLD

Everyone You Hold continues the series of calm ballad albums that started with As Close As This in 1986 and was carried on in the 90's with Out Of Water and Fireships.

It kicks off with the wondrous title track and continues at the same high level with songs such as Personality, Nothing Comes and From The Safe House. Don't expect any of Hammill's harsh shouts and rough energy here. This is a romantic album that sits closer to David Sylvian's musings then to anything Hammill did in the 70's. The performance is very touching tough, but in a subtle and understated way.

Another positive point to mark is that Hammill has finally shed the cold and stale midi sounds of the preceding 10 years. The album is mainly build around gentle piano playing and soft layers of ambient atmospherics.

Had the quality of the first 23 minutes been maintained, this could have been a worthy 4 star, but halfway in, the repetitive nature of the songs and the unchanging sound palette makes the album go down into an amorphous blur of mellow tracks, undistinguishable from one another. Phosphorescence and Falling Open are typical examples. They don't differ in approach but lack the quality of the first string of songs.

Bubble and Tenderness are better again but the damage is done. The album has lost its momentum and can't restore the enchanting effect of its first 25 minutes. 3.5 stars