Star Tribune (4.11.99)

THE CREATURES, "Anima Animus" (Instinct)

Siouxsie & The Banshees are retired in name only. When Siouxsie Sioux and her partner-on-all-fronts Budgie announced they were disbanding the seminal goth group a few years ago, they vowed to focus on their side project, the Creatures. They've juiced up their sound with a state-of-the-art overhaul on this CD. Then they swirl in Siouxsie & the Banshee trademarks--foremost among them her singular voice, which is at once caustic, predatory and vulnerable. The technology unifies "Anima Animus" with a heady atmosphere, but Siouxsie flashes through a gamut of moods. She leads a warlike drum set with a call to "Turn It On," and she imbues the melancholy "Say" with stately devotion. She embraces fatalism on the techno-dance opener "2nd Flood" and existentialism on the synthetic phantasm "I Was Me." The Creatures perform Wednesday at First Avenue in Minneapolis.

Chuck Campbell, Scripps Howard News Service

Contributed by Jerry Burch.