Tracey Thorn

Some voices feel like public monuments; Tracey Thorn’s has always felt like a private confidence. First heard in the minimalist post-punk of Marine Girls on Cherry Red Records, she spent decades mapping the contours of sophisticated pop alongside Ben Watt in Everything But The Girl, moving from jazzy confessions to unlikely club anthems. But it’s on her own and as a guest that her power truly crystallizes, lending a devastating emotional anchor to Massive Attack’s “Protection” or examining middle age with a disco pulse on her 2018 album Record. She sings with the clarity of a diarist who trusts you with the unvarnished truth.