Bread and Jam for Frances
took the
darkwave
pretensions of
Switchblade Symphony
's previous material and pushed it through an even more stylized electronic filter. Bristol beats were positioned next to
hip-hop
scratches and regular guitar riffs and the band would experiment around the
goth
scene's regimented bleakness to surprising effect.
Tina Root
's vocals were as unreliable as ever -- sometimes disturbing, sometimes pantomime -- but the new flamboyantly
trip-hop
approach to songs like
"Soldiers"
and
"Harpsichord"
and the large majority of the rest of the album suited the band well. ~ Dean Carlson