Emiliana Torrini – Rarities

Rainy Days and endless cups of tea, speaks to me of Emiliana Torrini. Home alone and happy. Her new double release Rarities perpetuates the charm and sweetness that fans have come to expect through the first handful of tracks, mostly alternate versions from her international debut album Love In The Time of Science. A well produced album well worth revisiting.

Rarities is an elaboration of her 2001 promo release under the same name. Both include her playful music box version of If You Go Away and her sweet ode to the strange child Weird Friendless Kid. While a solid and unabashed collection, the b – sides tend to jar with the trip hop remixes, the dance beats disrupting the flow of standout acoustic tracks which best explore her capacity as a song writer; the favourite being the In The Rain Acoustic version of Easy. Jazzy clarinet and cello weave around the song to the end of the first cd.

Unemployed In Summertime dominates the second disc, pushing and pulling the song in various remixes, some times frustrating some times nice. Six of  eleven tracks is a lot of tracks. The Tore Johannsen mix best captures the nostalgic, carefree, big sky, sunny feeling the song boasts. Rarities is a beautiful compliment to Torrini’s previous albums, offering elaborations and asides well worth listening to, like visiting old friends who may have changed for better or worse but are always a pleasure to see.

www.emilianatorrini.com