After a series of enjoyable singles and EPs, Anna Domino's first proper album as such was a sharp, fun treat. Working Marc Moulin of Telex and Alan Rankine, formerly of the Associates, Domino kicked up her heels in a series of songs both of the '80s and beyond it. The arrangements place songs like "Drunk" and "Not Right Now" at a certain time -- then state-of-the-art drum machines and synth bass, for instance -- but Domino's ear for singing and pop fascinations of other times did the trick. Her voice is low and moody without being smoky as such -- it's not rough but neither does she coo -- and she keeps an easy feel going in her music, with plenty of finger-snapping, hip-swinging grooves. When she goes "modern," as on the sparkling "Caught," it's just as intriguing, an argument against seeing her simply as a revival act. If an inexact parallel could be drawn, Anna Domino almost suggests a companion album to early Sade -- there's the same calm coolness that's not dull, one where silence and space rather than a wall of sound is crucial. Everything but the Girl is another obvious reference point -- perhaps unsurprising considering Ben Watt was due to do some remix work for Domino a couple of years beforehand. "Rythm," the intentionally misspelled single that had surfaced a year before, kicked things off with a jazzy feel that found an unexpected midpoint between Tracey Thorn and Laurie Anderson, swinging pop with a sly, wry cast. The left-field inclusion is an inspired remake of Smokey Robinson's "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game," given a slight lovers rock undertow to mix with Domino's general approach. The LTM reissue of the album in 2004, as always in keeping with the rest of the label's work, contains various B-sides and an Arthur Baker remix of the jaunty "Summer" as bonus cuts. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
Representative Albums: "Dreamback: Best of Anna Domino", "Mysteries of America", "Favorite Songs from the Twilight Years 1984-1990
Biography
Named Anne Taylor at birth, Anna Domino's entire life has perhaps been one of restless motion around the world -- before initially making a name for her music in early-'80s New York City, she had already lived in Tokyo (her birthplace), Ann Arbor, Ottawa, and Florence. After performing with a variety of bands in N.Y.C., her breakthrough came courtesy of the Le Disques du Crepsecule label in Belgium, which released her debut single, Trust in Love, in 1983. The following year produced the East and West and Rythm EPs, while Domino proceeded to split her time between New York and Brussels, where she gained a quiet cult following among musicians and fans alike. Her first album didn't appear until 1986, a self-titled effort that captured her knack for sly, danceable music and often quietly unsettled lyrical visions, though with a easy gloss and sass that compares favorably to prime Everything but the Girl without aping it. Domino and Belgian musician Michel Delory began a personal and professional partnership in 1987 that resulted in her second album, This Time, a more varied collection that scored a notable profile in Japan though no American dates surfaced beyond a New York-based residency in 1988. The result of that series of dates was the Colouring in the Edge and the Outline EP, a return to a more electronic approach, which in turn was contrasted by the 1990 album Mysteries of America, a more acoustically inclined reflection on the cycle of life and death. Following that release, Domino and Delory took an extended sabbatical, broken only by the release of a Canadian compilation, Favorite Songs From the Twilight Years, in 1996, accompanied by a smattering of shows. At the time, however, she and Delory had already begun work on a new project under the name Snakefarm, her revisioning of the alt-country/murder ballad aesthetic. The resultant album, Songs From My Funeral, was released in 1999, but nothing new followed for some years, while she and Delory eventually settled near Los Angeles. Domino received new attention in 2004 following a comprehensive re-release program of her work through Mysteries of America on the LTM label, which also assembled a new compilation, Dreamback. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
Anna Domino (Anna Virginia Taylor Delory) is a Tokyo-born indie rock artist who has released several recordings under that moniker. Notable performers Domino has collaborated with include Blaine L. Reininger and Virginia Astley. She also played with one-hit wonders, including Mania D and Tar. Additionally, she sang lead vocals on the song "Here In My Heart" by The 6ths on their album Wasps' Nests.
Early in her career, Domino sang with a number of New York City bands, but didn't catch the attention of American record labels until she had released several albums with the Belgian record label Les Disques du Crépuscule, releasing a single in 1983, Trust In Love. Two E.P. releases, East and West and Rythm, followed in short order. In 1986, her first complete album Anna Domino was released. In 1987, she met Michel Delory, guitarist for Bel Canto and Univers Zéro, and they collaborated on her second album This Time, which received positive critical attention and airplay in Japan. In 1989, Domino released another E.P., Colouring In the Edge and the Outline followed by her third album Mysteries of America in 1990. Domino didn't release anything under her own name after 1990, other than compilations and re-releases.
In 1999 Domino and Delory formed the folk rockalternative outfit Snakefarm, which has to date released only a single album Songs From My Funeral, an album of murder ballads from the 1920s to the 1950s.
Selected Discography
Albums
East and West (Crépuscule, 1984)
This Time (Crépuscule, 1987)
Colouring in the edge and the outline (Crépuscule, 1988)
L'Amour fou (Crépuscule, 1989)
Mysteries of America (Crépuscule, 1990)
Favourite songs from the Twilight years (US-compilation - Janken Pon, 1997)
