Fanshaw is the nom de plume of singer-songwriter Olivia Fetherstonhaugh; it’s also the name of the trinity she has formed with guitarist-vocalist Shane Turner (Shane Turner Overdrive) and percussionist Johnny Payne. A charter member of Mint Records’ The Choir Practice under friend and choirmaster Coco Culbertson, Fanshaw constructed her debut, Dark Eyes, at a glacial pace over a five-year period, with a single song taking up to a year to complete.
Inspired by erotically charged author Anaïs Nin — she dedicates the album’s title track to Henry Miller’s opium-crazed wife June, one of Nin’s favourite subjects — Fanshaw’s fragile and nasal vocals glide nonchalantly from cool chiding tones on the aforementioned “Dark Eyes” to a sultry come-hither thrust on “Strong Hips.” Through its undercurrents of vibration and petal-soft sighs, Fanshaw’s debut cultivates a rarified atmosphere that’s impossible to resist.
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