release date: Sep. 1990
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,98]
producer: Steven Kilbey
label: Red Eye Records / Polydor - nationality: Australia
Track highlights: 1. "Silvia" - 2. "Taken by Surprice" - 4. "Charms and Blues" - 5. "Insomnia" - 7. "Serendipity" - 10. "Empress"
Debut album from the duo-project Curious (Yellow) consisting of Swedish vocalist Karin Jansson (formerly Pink Champagne) and boyfriend Steve Kilbey (of The Church, here credited Steven Kilbey) released on Australian Red Eye in Sep. '90, at which point Kilbey also together with his (other) girlfriend Donette Thayer later that month released the album Vast Halos under the name of Hex. For several years, Kilbey has written songs together with Jansson, which have appeared on Kilbey's solo albums or releases with The Church - among others possibly the band's biggest hit "Under the Milky Way" (1988). Curious (Yellow) is the only studio album under a name taken from the Swedish erotic film, "I Am Curious (Yellow)" from '67 by Vilgot Sjöman. 'Coincidentially', a plot in the film is that of a female protagonist who finds out that her new boyfriend is also seing another woman. In the late eighties, Kilbey was in a relationship with Jansson, with whom he had twin daughters and from '88 (with Jansson's knowledge) he also formed a couple with Donette Thayer for a few years.
Musically, the most obvious connection is to Kilbey and Thayer's musical project Hex and its debut album from '89. Charms & Blues is dream pop / indie pop carried in a simple style, which may remind a little of Cardigans meets Cranberries. Kilbey is not quite as prominent in the sound image and on the composition side as he is in Hex or for that matter in the band The Church and in Jack Frost. Most of all, it appears like Jansson's project, which Kilbey supports with his know-how and ability as a producer. He plays on some tracks, he has written two tracks and composed the music on three of the album's eleven tracks in total, but Jansson participates on all songs and she has written nine songs and composed the music on three tracks. In addition to the two main actors, Pryce Surplice also participates as an instrumentalist and composer - he also plays together with Kilbey and McLennan in the duo-project Jack Frost.
Charms & Blues is mostly interesting as one of Kilbey's many releases, but it's not on par with the music from Kilbey's other side projects, nor with the music Kilbey and Thayer released under the Hex moniker.
