The Language of Life is the fifth studio album by British musical duo Everything but the Girl. It was released on 5 February 1990 by Atlantic Records and Blanco y Negro Records.
The Language of Life became Everything but the Girl's second album to surpass sales of 500,000 copies, but the album divided the group's British fanbase. In 2012, group member Tracey Thorn described The Language of Life as "a slightly slick, kind of semi-jazzy, sophisticated record" and recalled that it "was a definite attempt to try and do something that had a character to it, but in retrospect when we were asked why we had taken that direction, we couldn't entirely say why".The Language of Life is the fifth studio album by British musical duo Everything but the Girl. It was released on 5 February 1990 by Atlantic Records and Blanco y Negro Records.
The Language of Life became Everything but the Girl's second album to surpass sales of 500,000 copies, but the album divided the group's British fanbase. In 2012, group member Tracey Thorn described The Language of Life as "a slightly slick, kind of semi-jazzy, sophisticated record" and recalled that it "was a definite attempt to try and do something that had a character to it, but in retrospect when we were asked why we had taken that direction, we couldn't entirely say why".false2022-11-04 19:43:10The Language of Life519901990-02-201990-02-2041ElectronicPopRock11333521240332fcaade4-01cf-3b92-bb8c-16444221fbad959cf5bf-ee29-4af6-a85a-0b480181d9884869ecac-d115-3502-a972-1107869c6d44Everything but the GirlAlbumArtistEverything but the GirlArtistEverything but the GirlEverything but the GirlEverything but the Girl are an English musical duo formed in Kingston upon Hull in 1982, consisting of lead singer, songwriter, composer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer, producer and singer Ben Watt. The group's early works have been categorized as sophisti-pop with jazz influences before undergoing an electronic turn following the worldwide success of the 1994 hit single "Missing", remixed by Todd Terry.
The duo have achieved four top 10 and 12 top 40 singles in the UK and received eight gold and two platinum album BPI certifications in the UK as well as one gold album RIAA certification in the US. Their cover of "I Don't Want to Talk About It" reached No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart in 1988, a feat later matched by "Missing", which charted high in several countries and reached No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1995 and spent over seven months on the UK Singles Chart for the "Missing" remix, which led to a Brit Award nomination for Best British Single.
Their ninth album, Walking Wounded (1996), entered the UK albums chart at No. 4, and spawned the top-10 singles "Walking Wounded" and "Wrong.” The band went inactive in 2000, with Thorn declaring she would no longer perform live. Thorn and Watt, who did not publicise their romantic relationship while active, married in 2009, both released solo albums and said it was unlikely Everything but the Girl would be active again.
However, in November 2022, Thorn and Watt announced an album had been recorded for release in the second quarter of 2023. Fuse, the band's first new material in 24 years, was released on 21 April 2023. It charted at No. 3 on the Official UK Album Chart, making it the highest charting album of their career. In a 5-star review, The Guardian said: "Still staking out pop's frontier after 40 years. It is audibly made by people with a deep love for and understanding of the music they're inspired by … a comeback worth waiting for."