About

Everything but the Girl's resurrection as a sophisticated electronica outfit may have been unpredictable, but it certainly revitalized the duo's music. Prior to 1996's Walking Wounded, Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn had taken their charming, jazzy acoustic pop as far as it could go. Adding electronica, primarily drum'n'bass and trip-hop, to the equation broke their potential wide open, as the captivating, seductive Walking Wounded proved. It was such a drastic, fulfilling departure that it did raise the question of where they go from here; its 1999 sequel, Temperamental, answers that by offering more of the same, except just a little different. Temperamental tempers the lightly skittering drum'n'bass and eliminates trip-hop, yet retains the same feel as Walking Wounded. House music -- everything from classic '80s house to contemporary house -- serves as the musical foundation, which actually opens the doors for slight jazzy inflections, along with long, hypnotizing instrumental passages (most notably on "Compression"). – All Music