Timbre
Her third album delayed by tussles with her label over the banjo on the single "Lose Your Way," Sophie B. Hawkins turned to her Internet fans and the resulting e-mail campaign got this album released in the form she intended. The arrangements she fought for are often lovely; unfortunately, the songs behind them don't have much of the conceptual and melodic elegance of her earlier hits.Timbre's songs are almost all moon-eyed midtempo ballads, with sexed-up lyrics vague enough that they're open to pretty much any interpretation. Aside from "The Darkest Childe," a bizarre spiel surrounded by sampled voices and sound effects, it's awfully bland--disappointing from a songwriter who was once anything but that.--Douglas Wolk