Whiskey Tango Ghosts

Personnel: Tanya Donelly (vocals, guitar); Tanya Donelly; Elizabeth Steen (vocals, piano, Wurlitzer piano, Wurlitzer organ, background vocals); Rich Gilbert (guitar, pedal steel guitar); Dean Fisher (guitar, bass instrument, drums, percussion); David Narcizo (drums).
Audio Mixer: Matthew Ellard.
Recording information: Q Division, Somerville, MA.
Photographer: Richard Donelly.
Though Tanya Donelly has been unfairly overlooked for her contributions to both Throwing Muses and the Breeders, the success of her band Belly, and its 1993 debut STAR, finally announced her as a major presence. WHISKEY TANGO GHOSTS, Donelly's third album under her own name, bears no relation to the driving, ethereal rock of her previous bands, but instead finds Donelly firmly in the solo singer/songwriter tradition. Featuring a delicate web of spare, tasteful arrangements, the atmosphere of WHISKEY TANGO GHOSTS rarely rises above a haunted, folky whisper.
Donelly's songs--largely down- and mid-tempo ballads--are dark, ephemeral, and remarkably personal, a sense heightened by her associative, confessional lyrics. There is an earnestness to Donelly's tales of love and personal trial that appeals, as on the bittersweet "Divine Sweet Divide," and the gorgeous, aching love song "The Center." Donelly's vocals, reed-like and soaring, yet also about to scrape the bottom of a broken heart, build a bridge between the abstract qualities inherent in her fine songwriting and the intimate feel throughout, making WHISKEY TANGO GHOSTS a beautiful, compelling statement.