Sandy Dillon - Pull The Strings

  by Sarah Rowland

published: 29 / 3 / 2006

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Sandy Dillon’s seventh album, 'Pull The Strings' is impossible to characterise, and has deep hoarse vocals and bluesy melodies mixed in with screeching electric guitars and surprisingly soft keys. Dillon’s story is a harrowing one. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer shortly after the death of her husband and during treatment contracted the MRSA virus. A slow recovery ensued but Dillon managed to write most of the material for 'Pull The Strings' in her hospital bed. Guest vocals on the album include Tom Waits and Alabama 3 singer, Robert Love who sings on the title track. Dico has been likened to Nina Simone and she also sounds like a female Tom Waits, so she definitely has an original sound. Personally I’m not quite sure if I like this album or not. I love the originality and bluesy feel of it but at times it can get a little too grisly. ‘Blindcore’ in particular is a song that is hard to decipher. Fans of the more gravely genre of vocal stylings should be in their element with this album, however, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone with a soft spot for Mr Waits.

Track Listing:-

1 Pull The Strings
2 Play With Ruth
3 I Fell In Love
4 Enter The Flame
5 Documents
6 Broken Promises
7 Blindcore
8 Why?
9 Who's Answering
10 Baltimore Oriole
11 Over My Head
12 Homesick
13 Motherless Children
14 Wedding Night
15 The Midway
16 Carnival Of Dreams

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