SILVERMAN - Speed of Life part two (album) Posted by claire on Friday, June 7, 2002 (Uglyman) In an attempt to find a genre to crowbar this remarkable mini-album into, I am going to have to call it 'folk-hop'… bear with me while I try and explain… Songwriting duo Martin Williams and Anna Dennis use a curious combination of Massive Attack beats, Sneaker Pimps samples and Portishead breaks with accoustic guitar and a naïve Tori Amos singer-songwriter vocal. It's abrupt and edgy but darkly atmospheric, a kitchen sink melodrama for hopeless romantics. Opening track Ctrl Alt Del (a bit of a spoddy title for such a pretty song, but then Silverman are very successful on the net) is a sour lovesong and has a great dynamic between the voices of Martin (quiet, low, broken) and Anna (soaring, plaintive, deadly). The rest is sung by Anna alone, who can sound a bit syrupy at times, but it is a very different style to pretty much anything around right now. Maybe they will find a place for themselves alongside the more mature sounds of David Gray or Nellie Furtardo, although I can't imagine their sex-and-death obsessed lyrics will sit well with the rest of the daytime radio playlist. Then again, maybe they don't care that they are out on a limb. Discerning listening indeed. Laura