The Guardian - Final Edition (December 12, 2003)

Friday review: Pop CD releases: The Creatures Hai! (Sioux) 3/5

Dave Simpson

The fourth Creatures LP in 20 years puts Siouxsie Sioux's famous harridan howl to more creative use than another Banshees reunion tour. Finding themselves in Tokyo, Sioux and Budgie arranged a session with the Japanese Taiko drumming hero Leonard Eto, triggering off a wall of twisted percussive turbulence within which Sioux's vocal can do just what it likes. She is impossibly sensual on Tourniquet, while the unusually skeletal Further Nearer out-Bjorks Bjork. Working with Eto has similarly inspired Budgie to stretch himself, layering marimbas and crashing gongs aplenty. The lyrics are as enigmatic/ meaningless as ever ("Desert sand, ocean deep. . ." sounds like a geography lesson) but it's all terrifically atmospheric, and will find a readymade market among Japanese goths.

Contributed by Jerry Burch.