Martina Topley Bird's musical career began as a singer on Maxinquaye, Tricky's dark trip-hop debut from 1995. Quixotic, her own debut, was released eight years later and showed that she feels very much at home in this genre, but is also open to further experimentation. For The Blue God, she sought the company of producer Danger Mouse, who also has Gnarls Barkley under his wing. He scraped the darkest
… corners of Topley Bird's compositions, replacing them with a layer of responsible optimism. Not that The Blue God is a cheerful CD - it never really gets cozy - but the inventive arrangements make it sound as if the songs were written in dire times with a view to improvement. Her characteristic melancholy mood is maintained as if she has a lot of grief to deal with, but her original approach makes The Blue God a beautiful CD, excellent for listening to when dealing with grief and sorrow. (AD)more
