Like many of her contemporaries from late '80s Massachusetts, Tanya Donelly has been something of an underachiever for the past few years. For a while, it looked as if she would be the one who, alongside Evan Dando, would make a real impact on the charts. Frank Black might have lost his drive, Kim Deal was too flakey, J Mascis too sloppy, her half-sister Kristin Hersh too musically tempestuous. Donelly, though, was sweeter and more straightforward, and her unabashed taste for pop ensured Belly were, briefly, among the most charming of early '90s college rock bands.
Disappointingly, an erratic sequence of Belly records and solo albums propelled Donelly out of the spotlight. It's auspicious, then, that she should be making a comeback just as her contemporaries are thriving again. The Pixies are the biggest nostalgia draw of 2004, and Hersh has returned to volatile rock'n'roll with her new band, 50 Ft Wave.
Donelly, however, has chosen a quieter path. "Whiskey Tango Ghosts" is a sober, delicate, unutterably mature album, far from the careering alt-rock that made her name. It begins with a piano ballad, "Divine Sweet Divide", redolent of Carole King, and drifts pleasingly into a sort of twilit country. Old fans – perhaps reinvigorated by those Pixies shows - will not find much here to remind them of the Throwing Muses, Belly or the excesses of their student years.
No matter. While Donelly's new placidity might not be the best commercial decision, it proves to be a wise artistic one. Unlike her last, rather creaky attempts to sound energetic, "Whiskey Tango Ghosts" makes a virtue of emotional contentment: the lovely "My Life As A Ghost" revels in domesticity, a world away from her frantic past.
The unadorned arrangements let Donelly's excellent voice – less fruity now, with a satisfying twang – stand out more. It helps, too, that these are the best set of songs she's written since 1993's "Star". Alt-country may be the last resort of many an exhausted indie rocker, but she fits this style better than most: "Story High" is enjoyably dusty in a way which wouldn't shame one of Donelly's admitted influences here, Neko Case.
It all adds up to a dignified and engaging record. Perhaps now that no-one expects much of her, Tanya Donelly can start fulfilling some of that potential which has lain dormant for so long.
