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Passionoia
A woman resting on a sun lounger next to a pool
Studio album by
Black Box Recorder
Released3 May 2003
GenreIndie Pop, synth-pop, spoken word
Length37:51
LabelOne Little Indian
ProducerBlack Box Recorder, Pete Hofmann
Black Box Recorder chronology
The Worst of Black Box Recorder
(2001) 		Passionoia
(2003)

Passionoia is the third and final studio album by British rock band Black Box Recorder, released on 3 May 2003 through One Little Indian.

Background

The album was produced by the band members and Pete Hofmann, who also performed engineer and mixing roles. Tim Weller contributed drums to "British Racing Garden", "I Ran All the Way Home" and "Girls Guide for the Modern Diva".[1]

Composition and lyrics

Overview

AllMusic reviewer Andy Kellman said there was "increasingly ornate arrangements" as the band shift their sound to dance-pop,[2] which recalled the work of Pet Shop Boys[3] and Saint Etienne.[4] In a review for Blender, journalist Andrew Harrison wrote that for the band, pop music entails "honeyed synthesizer melodies acting as a Trojan horse" for the lyrics.[5] The Guardian critic Alexis Petridis wrote that the chord progressions were inspired by French chanson music, aided by softly "plucked acoustic guitars, [and] hazy electronics".[6] Idov remarked that the "funniest thing" about the band was that despite "embodying all things British, they end up sounding French", adding that the "blippier numbers seem informed by Air," and chord sequences lifted from the disco-era of Serge Gainsbourg.[7] Harrison thought Nixey "articulates the songs in the persona of a deliciously bored, spoiled and corrupt posh girl",[5] while Maya Singer of Cleveland Scene thought she came across as a "particularly bloodless" iteration of Sarah Cracknell, frontwoman for Saint Etienne.[8]

Singer said that Passionoia expands on a "vein of extreme, almost provincial Britishism" that the band had started with their debut album England Made Me (1998).[8] Pitchfork contributor Michael Idov wrote that the album is a "blunt parody of a 'success is hell' concept album, wherein hilarity stems from the fact that The Facts of Life wasn't that big of a smash".[7] Kellman said Haines and Moore compose with the subjects of "childhood, English culture, and observations of the mundane aspects of adult life" in mind.[2] Harrison said the album had "seedy lyrics about classified-ad dating, teenage lust and the horrors of the British school system".[5] Petridis said the album was "largely concerned with tabloid celebrity" with tracks tackling "manufactured pop bands" and Andrew Ridgeley of Wham!, "who became wildly famous while possessing no discernible talent for anything".[6]

Tracks

Petridis wrote that with the album's opening track "The School Song", Nixey can be heard "drolly reciting academic cliches", recalling "The Facts of Life".[6] Uncut staff wrote that Nixey assumes the role of a "bitterly authoritarian schoolmaster responsible for emotionally crippling the nation’s youth",[9] while a children's choir can be heard recounting the band's name.[7] "GSOH Q.E.D." includes a reference to "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" (1969) by Johnny Mathis.[9] John Walshe of Hot Press compared its exploration of classified adverts to "Classified Personal" (1999) by the 4 of Us, which talked the same subject with a "reasonably gentle sense of humour, [while] BBR are far more caustic in their approach".[10] The staff at The Independent wrote that "British Racing Green" hints at "how the delusions of empire have now shrunk to bourgeois dreams of country cottages and dinky little sports cars".[11] "Being Number One", which recalls Blur lyrically,[7] talks about the tabloid press revolting against a celebrity.[6] Murphy wrote that "The New Diana" "lac[es] a slab of Destiny's Child-style r'n'b with [Haines'] acidic sense of humour",[3] with Harrison adding that when Nixey speaks of substituting Princess Diana as a "global sweetheart, she leaves the Hilton Sisters for dead in the Ice Queen stakes".[5]

"These Are the Things", which evokes "It's a Sin" (1987) by Pet Shop Boys,[3] is a Eurodisco song that retreads the lyrical theme of "Straight Life" from The Facts of Life.[12] Playlouder writer Jeres said it discusses the "mundanities of life and how they keep us together".[13] Neumu writer Steve Gozdecki said "Andrew Ridgeley" explores the absurd "triteness of celebrity worship".[12] In the track, which borrows from "Love Action (I Believe in Love)" (1981) by the Human League,[9] Kellman was unsure if Nixey was being "personal or ironic" as she admits her adoration of Ridgeley. He compared it sonically to the work of Saint Etienne, "though lyrical elements that follow make it more like that group's wicked stepsister".[2] Idov felt that Haines parodies his position as their "ventriloquist, having Sarah Nixey intone the lyric, 'This is Sarah Nixey talking.'" during the song.[7] Greg Thorpe of No Ripcord said "When Britain Refused to Sing" was a "weird dystopian tale of silence and melancholy".[14] The staff at The Independent wrote that "I Ran All the Way Home" details a girl that is scared by a "bereaved couple who claim she reminds them of how their daughter would have looked, had she lived".[11]

Release

On 26 November 2002, Black Box Recorded announced that they had signed to the label One Little Indian and that Passionoia was announced for release in early 2003. Alongside this, the album's track listing was posted online.[15] "These Are the Things" was released as the lead single from the album on 17 February 2003.[16] The artwork features Nixey, dressed in a bikini, holding a drink as she relaxes by a pool, which has a lifeless body floating in it. Kellman said this was an allusion to a "party gone wrong" that was hosted by Michael Barrymore.[2] Thorpe said it showcases the "concept of BBR exactly; potted palms, poolside tuxedos, empty magnums of champagne and a corpse in the water (in BBR's world there's always a corpse in the water)".[14]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic70/100[17]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Blender[5]
The Guardian[6]
Neumu3/10[12]
No Ripchord6/10[14]
Pitchfork8.1/10[7]
Playlouder3/5[13]
Rolling Stone[18]
Stylus Magazine7.6/10[3]
Uncut4/5[9]

Passionoia was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 70, based on ten reviews.[17]

Kellman write that it was "full of buoyant arrangements, meaty rhythms, and glitter-specked choruses. It's just as full-bodied and upfront as [England Made Me track] 'Child Psychology' is sparse and distant".[2] Rolling Stone reviewer Rob Sheffield wrote that "too many Brit bands have been getting all sincere on us, with grim results [...] Fortunately, Black Box Recorder are still on the case, making sardonic art pop with juicy melodies and nasty wit".[18] Thorpe said underneath the "neat glitz of Black Box Recorder's delivery Passionoia manages to maintain its baroque underbelly",[14] while Idov said the "arrangements [...] are Haines' usual fare-- deceptively cute, a tad on the lazy side, but always memorable".[7] The Uncut staff wrote that the band's "absinthe-flavoured acid drops give you a great deal more to suck on than the rest of pop’s confectionery selection. Savour their sourness".[9] Killian Murphy of Stylus Magazine thought it was not as a good as The Facts of Life, "but a more than adequate follow-up. Any attempts to find a heart here will prove fruitless, but when the tunes are this good, it would be foolish to resist".[3] Jeres said that "unfortunately a lot of the record falls a wee bit flat [...] Add to that the fact that the music is often a tad on the chilly side and you are no longer laughing along with the joke, but feeling more like an outsider".[13] Walshe similarly said despite the "humour and lyrical dexterity, [the songs] just aren’t interesting enough musically for this listener".[10]

Murphy proposed the question: "Was there ever a vocal delivery so cold and controlled [than Nixey's]? Certainly not many that spring to mind, but her deliciously empty presence is everywhere on this record".[3] Thorpe said that after hearing Nixey's "ultra-sweet vocals for forty minutes you might just feel like hearing Sepultura for a while (I said might)".[14] The staff at Impact Press noted that her vocals switches from the "cold, in-control voice of a dominatrix, to the whispered beauty of a nymph".[19] CMJ New Music Report writer Antonia Santangelo[20] and Chris Lorraine of Seattle Weekly noticed this too, with the latter adding that Nixey can provide "come-hithers in an icy monotone. But it’s an inviting icy monotone, one that aches with a new vulnerability that helps close the distance between singer and subject".[21]

Kellman thought the band's lyrical "knives haven't dulled in the least", having a "way of making them seem that [mundane], which comes across doubly so," when sung by Nixey.[2] The staff at Uncut wrote that "superficially, [the album] doesn’t seem quite so bleak and mordant as Luke Haines & co’s previous work".[9] Thorpe expanded on this, viewing the album as "something of an evolution too," as Haines' "infamous line[s] in sunny-side-down cynicism having actually flowered into something faintly upbeat and funny".[14] Gozdecki noted that where the band's past releases "effectively lampooned the worst aspects of contemporary British life, the objects of his derision on Passionoia scarcely seem worth deriding".[12] Thorpe thought they often "touch on moments of absolute class",[14] while Singer remarked that unless the listener was an Anglophile, "which the caustic in-jokes on Passionoia only serve to deflate, you'll find quite a lot in the band's music that will pass over the head of the average American listener".[8] Petridis praised the lyrics as they seemed to be "more intelligent and witty than anything you'll hear this year", but was underwhelmed by the album as a whole as the band's "targets seem softer" and the "shock" factor that dominated England Made Me was missing.[6] Harrison called it an "utterly original if slightly queasiness-inducing album",[5] which Walshe added to, saying that "unfortunately the end result is just too clinical and sometimes downright insipid for these ears".[10]

Track listing

All songs written by Luke Haines and John Moore.[1]

  1. "The School Song" – 3:41
  2. "GSOH Q.E.D." – 3:46
  3. "British Racing Green" – 4:34
  4. "Being Number One" – 3:26
  5. "The New Diana" – 2:49
  6. "These Are the Things" – 3:58
  7. "Andrew Ridgeley" – 3:47
  8. "When Britain Refused to Sing" – 3:14
  9. "Girls Guide for the Modern Diva" – 4:09
  10. "I Ran All the Way Home" – 4:27

Personnel

Personnel per booklet and sleeve.[1][22]

See also

  • Das Capital – Haines' next release after Black Box Recorder
  • Sing, Memory – Nixey's next release after Black Box Recorder

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c Passionoia (booklet). One Little Indian. 2003. TPLP376CD. {{cite AV media notes}}: Unknown parameter |people= ignored (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Kellman, Andy. "Passionoia - Black Box Recorder". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Murphy, Killian (9 June 2003). "Black Box Recorder: Passionoia". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on 25 June 2003. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  4. ^ Weston, Colin (19 March 2003). "Album Review: Black Box Recorder - Passionia / Releases". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Harrison, Andrew. "Black Box Recorder Passionoia". Blender. Archived from the original on 18 August 2004. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Petridis, Alexis (28 February 2003). "CD: Black Box Recorder, Passionoia". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Idov, Michael (18 March 2003). "Black Box Recorder: Passionoia Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  8. ^ a b c Singer, Maya (1 October 2003). "Black Box Recorder / CD Reviews". Cleveland Scene. Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d e f "Cool Hand Luke". Uncut. 1 March 2003. Archived from the original on 30 July 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  10. ^ a b c Walshe, John (4 March 2003). "Passionoia". Hot Press. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  11. ^ a b "Album: Black Box Recorder". The Independent. 7 February 2003. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  12. ^ a b c d Gozdecki, Steve. "Black Box Recorder Passionoia (One Little Indian)". Neumu. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  13. ^ a b c Jeres (4 March 2003). "Passionoia: Black Box Recorder". Playlouder. Archived from the original on 8 February 2005. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Thorpe, Greg (10 May 2003). "Black Box Recorder: Passionoia - Music Review". No Ripcord. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  15. ^ "Box Set". NME. 26 November 2002. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  16. ^ Weston, Colin (1 March 2003). "Single Review: Black Box Recorder - These Are The Things / Releases". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  17. ^ a b "Critic Reviews for Passionoia". Metacritic. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  18. ^ a b Sheffield, Rob (16 October 2003). "Black Box Recorder: Passionoia". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 16 November 2003. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  19. ^ "Quickies". Impact Press. October–November 2003. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  20. ^ Santangelo 2003, p. 6
  21. ^ Lorraine, Chris (9 October 2006). "CD Reviews". Seattle Weekly. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  22. ^ Passionoia (sleeve). One Little Indian. 2003. TPLP376CD. {{cite AV media notes}}: Unknown parameter |people= ignored (help)

Sources

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