Devine & Statton

Singer <a href="spotify:artist:208DDxBJHXOxgou4wWiQUV">Alison Statton</a>, born in Cardiff,Wales, began her music career with enigmatic, new wave minimalists <a href="spotify:artist:0tQ2Q4y9iUkKszxXyB14ZH">Young Marble Giants</a>, which released its defining LP, Colossal Youth, in 1980. <a href="spotify:artist:208DDxBJHXOxgou4wWiQUV">Statton</a>'s coolly unadorned vocals were one of the defining characteristics of that incomparable post-punk landmark. With her subsequent group, <a href="spotify:artist:7F3J4p4SeQFcUoUIiPtjuL">Weekend</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:208DDxBJHXOxgou4wWiQUV">Statton</a> preempted the posh, cocktail-cool of acts such as <a href="spotify:artist:13ccXrK7AmXb4TddMkE7jy">Everything But the Girl</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:47zz7sob9NUcODy0BTDvKx">Sade</a>. After <a href="spotify:artist:7F3J4p4SeQFcUoUIiPtjuL">Weekend</a> disbanded, <a href="spotify:artist:208DDxBJHXOxgou4wWiQUV">Statton</a> returned to university and disappeared from the musical landscape for a time. Nevertheless, she resurfaced in the late '80s as one half of the Celtic-tinged folk-pop duo Devine & Statton, along with Mancunian songwriter-guitarist Ian Devine. The pair made two albums, 1989's The Prince of Wales (which featured a cover of <a href="spotify:artist:0yNLKJebCb8Aueb54LYya3">New Order</a>'s "Bizarre Love Triangle") and 1990s Cardiffians. Subsequently, <a href="spotify:artist:208DDxBJHXOxgou4wWiQUV">Statton</a> would go on to reunite with an old <a href="spotify:artist:7F3J4p4SeQFcUoUIiPtjuL">Weekend</a> bandmate as <a href="spotify:artist:5fRRP1KSBQ7k61neCoGlj1">Alison Statton & Spike</a>. ~ Erik Hage, Rovi