After their split and fallout, following a near-constant touring and release schedule for years, I did not expect to be covering another Blood Red Shoes album, especially since Laura-Mary Carter truly walked away, across to the USA. I first found them a number of years ago, before rediscovering my liking for their music following their set at Leeds/Reading in 2016, so to find a new release being offered was a welcome surprise. In an age where duos are becoming more and more fashionable, it’s a strong return from an act that has worked exceptionally hard for over a decade.
Get Tragic (Jazz Life) is a step into the slight unknown for the duo, bringing in more electronics than they’ve previously used, and with drummer Steven also stepping into a more active vocal role than he has overly performed in the past across the album as a whole.
There is a mixture of tracks that relate to their previous work, while the newer ones, with added electronics, harken more to the early days of Garbage or White Lies and The Editors in their approach, demonstrating just how far the pair have come from the early days of their work, such as ‘It’s Getting Boring By The Sea’.
Steven taking a proactive role in vocals also seems to work very well, as their voices harmonise extremely well, adding further still to the depth of their sonic landscape, rather than it being almost completely Laura-Mary, as many of their previous tracks have been.
‘Mexican Dress’ was the first single released from the album, back in October 2018 and stands as one of the more instantly accessible tracks to fans of their previous work and to the listening audience in general, with Laura-Mary’s vocals mixing between her usual smooth as silk style and a slightly withdrawn manner, while there are hints of the newer electronic edge that they been edging towards previously.
It’s a strong release overall, with nothing I would say is particularly poor or ill-fitting in comparison to the other tracks on the album, with plenty of accessibility across the board to please fans of most clean vocal Rock sub-genres. While I would normally try to balance the positives with negatives, there aren’t any that stand out, with this release sitting well alongside their previous material, despite the evolution of sound which only enhances further still their collective abilities.
8 / 10
DJ ASTROCREEP