Afterglow was supposed to be a good (not great) album from Scottish former One Dove singer-songwriter Dot Allison. Well, whomever decided Afterglow was decent was on crack. The album is overall annoying and doesn’t in the least capture Allison’s talent (if she indeed has any).
Allison first was introduced to the world as part of One Dove, a hip techno/electronica band formed in 1991. Both critics and listeners alike embraced the band’s only full-length effort, Morning Dove White, for a time. But it seems that maybe uber-producer Andrew Weatherall (Primal Scream, Beth Orton, Future Sound of London) had more to do with the album’s success than did the contribution of Allison and her two compatriots Carmichael and Mckinven.
In 1999, Allison returned with a solo career and a new album Afterglow, an album that crossed over stateside and probably got her more attention than she deserved. While it is an apparent solo effort, dozens of people were involved in the making ranging from orchestral players to producers to drummers. Speaking of production, Afterglow is in part produced by the artist herself but other hands were at work including those of Magnus Fiennes (Spice Girls, Bond, All Saints), Stephen Lironi (Hanson, Jon Bon Jovi), Tim Holmes, Chris Allison, and Richard Fearless (among others). Obviously, most had little experience with alternative and trip-hop platforms and this huge collection of forces did little to further Allison as an artist. Too many cooks in the kitchen one might say…
Afterglow is at times promising, but overall is completely forgettable and a much too respected album to be this unforgivably mediocre and barely passes as electronica much less trip-hop (which it is mistakenly purported to be). In all, Afterglow is eleven songs in length and wholly written by Allison. I have no doubt that she did indeed write the lyrics but the ridiculous number of producers suggests that the music is of their creation. Afterglow is a trite, self-important piece of relative garbage.
With that said, Allison probably has some amount of talent. She’s no rookie nor is she a musical hack…she just needs to hook up with a tight group of individuals with whom she can best bring to life a hopefully unique brand of music. 1998’s Afterglow is however not that album…and it’s even doubtful that the recent We Are Science is any less problematic. As with Afterglow, it too features extremely heavy-handed production to the point that Allison seems less human than blonde robot.
This solo debut actually doesn’t start off badly. Colour Me is a plodding, jazzy track. But there are of course some issues…most notably Allison’s tinny and wispy vocals paired with too many synths and not enough real instruments. Her voice isn’t one that works well within the confines of electronica…nor does it function well under the guise of trip-hop. Other female vocalists like Beth Orton and Skye Edwards are much more talented and in need of much less tweaking.
What little good in Afterglow that exists diminishes as the album continues. Tomorrow Never Comes is a pseudo-acoustic new age electronica track. In this case, Allison’s voice is pretty fitting but the song’s melody and overall feels are lacking motivation and “catchiness.” It’s much too light and airy to enjoy. The light feel of the album is cracked by the ridiculous thumping of Close Your Eyes. This incarnation of the singer-songwriter is as a trip-hop dance goddess. Needless to say, the hat doesn’t fit well. Allison’s voice tends toward folk NOT electronica.
Message Personnel is one of the better tracks here despite the intense production. The song itself is breathy and intense and Allison chants in time with the tempo. Her voice, layered on top of itself, is about as creative as this album gets. Not to say that other bands and artists haven’t done it better (Morcheeba for example), but it’s not a completely reprehensible attempt. I Wanna Feel the Chill on the other hand is crap…not to mention the over-long Morning Sun. Neither is at all creative nor does Allison even perform well.
Pop track Did I Imagine You? will most certainly appeal to a certain subset of listeners. Orchestral strings meld nicely with the electronic elements and even with Allison’s voice. But in the context of this album it is a strange inclusion. It’s too much of a mainstream pop ballad to be of interest to fans of elecronica and trip-hop.
The remaining four tracks don’t do anything to further the cause of Afterglow. Not even the remix of Message Personnel is inviting. As a whole, they are tedious and dull. Allison, despite her experience in music, has yet to find her muse. She wants desperately to be something that she’s not and Afterglow is the unfortunate product of her vain attempts.
Regardless of what music a listener enjoys, Allison will not satisfy. She has no identity, her music lacks purpose, and the album is over-produced. Stay away from Afterglow.
Rating: 2/5 stars
Track Listing:
01. Colour Me
02. Tomorrow Never Comes
03. Close Your Eyes
04. Message Personnel
05. I Wanna Feel the Chill
06. Morning Sun
07. Did I Imagine You?
08. Mo’ Pop
09. Alpha Female
10. In Winter Still
11. Message Personnel [Arab Strap Remix]
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