by Ned RaggettEarwig's sole proper album before the group mutated into Insides continued and perfected the clean, gripping minimalism of its earlier singles, polished to a tense, intriguing shine. Starting with the lengthy title track, Under My Skin arguably trumps what Stereolab was supposedly doing at the same time, namely marrying deceptively strong lyrics to a cool performance, vocally and musically. The key difference lies in the bands' preferred musical approaches -- while both have an affinity for minimalism in a pop context, Earwig aims for a more consciously modern approach, referring to the likes of Factory Records instead of Krautrock surge and snarl. Kirsty Yates' vocals are downright clipped in their stark beauty, half-spoken half-crooned, while her subject matter pitilessly eviscerates relationships and the bleakest of moments in emotional gamesmanship. A sample of some of the harsher moments, … » Read more