NME

"Autumn leaves/Pretty as can be", sighs Portishead singer Beth Gibbons on 'Sand River'. You get the picture. Compared to her, Dot Allison sounds like a drunk rolling around in the mud and Eva Cassidy's visits to the acoustic guitar are a tribute to The Parkinsons.
Aided here by ex-Talk Talk man Paul Webb (under the alias of Rustin' Man), Beth gets all the folksiness she can't get away with during her day job off her chest at times, as on 'Tom The Model' it is as good as anything legendary folk Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell combined could have come up with. At other times, when the brushes come out on erm, 'Drake', you feel the cold shiver of Everything But The Girl at the door. Intriguing.

7/10
Paul Moody