Everything But the Girl: Amplified Heart/Worldwide/The Language of Life

The popularity of certain styles of music are cyclical, as we well know. Still, it's particularly heartening to see the return of some level of profile for 1980s UK duo Everything But the Girl. Back in the day, EBTG quickly morphed from critical darlings to Daleks, and while they reached a commercial peak in the 1990s, ill health (Ben Watt) and motherhood (Tracey Thorn) caused the couple to retreat. With a new album from Watt due out next year (and with Thorn back as an acclaimed writer), it's instructive on listening to these jam-packed reissues just how good EBTG were: Watt's neo-jazz/folk/pop and Thorn's always just-right vocals frame narratives as personal as they are universal. Now, as then, EBTG offer subtleties that go way above the collective heads of many bands. Listen. Learn. ebtg.com

Download: Walking to You (Amplifed Heart), Boxing and Pop Music (Worldwide)