Passive Agressive [Import]

Nicola Hitchcock | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 7, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Tempted
• ASIN: B0009JDBYE
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #442,120 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. You Will Feel Like This

2. All or Nothing

3. Moving into a New Space

4. Heart

5. I Forgive Me

6. Cloudy Skies & Rain

7. Feel

8. Ordinary Day

9. Surrender

10. Because

11. Morning

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly, She Does It Again, July 24, 2005

By 

Jessica Leighton (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Passive Agressive (Audio CD)

Three different yet distinct styles of music, and amazingly Nicola Hitchcock perfects them all. From her folky freshman album A Bowl of Chalk, to her deeply lyrically charged days with Mandalay, to her ice piercing downtempo collaberations on Passive Aggressive, Nicola is truly one of the most talented artists out there today.
Passive Aggressive will certainly exceed your expectations. Nicola is always at her best, and I've never encountered an artist that has done this. Most get better and better, however, Nicola has been consistently amazing since her debut album. If you are any bit of a fan of trippy downtempo, run to the store to get this lush, rich, chilling album. If you are a fan of Mandalay and have your doubts, let me alleviate them right now. Get this CD.
Also, I have had the pleasure of conversing with Nicola over email. She is extremely humble and true to anyone who supports her music. It is awesome that she makes herself so accessible to her fans. [...] you won't be disappointed.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of a Kind Sound, May 21, 2005

By 

Andrew M. Baird "Bairda98" (Highland Park, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Passive Agressive (Audio CD)

As I was picking up my boyfriend's best friend (he needed a ride home from work), I played my first favorite track, "All or Nothing," from Nicola's new CD, "Passive Aggressive." As soon as he got into the car, he said "Wow, this is the type of music you listen to when you want to feel sexy and romanticize someone." Typical, I thought, he's trying to break that long time rule of leaving your best friend's man alone...que sera...but then I realized how I felt when I first heard Mandalay (Nicola's former music front). I felt more liquid inside...I felt a flow, an essence that was being tapped and sung to.

So, I turned to my friend and said "Oh, that's Nicola...but you really think it's sexy? I've always found a rather melancholy sound to it." And I still do feel that way...but I can see where he's coming from now. Nicola's music, Mandalay or not, strips you down...raw.

When I first heard Morning on Hector Zazou's "Strong Currents," I nearly hurdled over in a fetal position. It's that much. And thankfully, people can get a listen to it here on "Passive Aggressive." Though now, the song intermixed with its brother and sister songs gives it a much warmer welcome (I think it's truly one of the saddest songs out there...but beautifully sad).

This album is wonderful because we get to hear Nicola in new lights (she worked with several different musicians on "Passive Aggressive")...yet that one of kind sound is still there...Nicola's voice and creative direction.

As my friend Brion, the one who intitially introduced me to Mandalay, once said, "This is the type of album that you need to drop everything and go to the record store to get. No, I mean it...RUN."

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You don't have a soul if you don't like this, June 23, 2005

By 

C. Alford (Salisbury, England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Passive Agressive (Audio CD)

It is a real travesty when stuff like Crazy Frog manages to get to Number 1 on the UK charts, whereas artists like Nicola here are often completely overlooked. For me Nicola has been one of the most interesting vocalists/musicians around for a long time in this country, and this cd is further testimony to her wonderful talent.

I had very high hopes for this cd: Nicola's work with Saul Freeman in Mandalay produced, for me, some of the most magical music I had ever heard. Because of this, one could imagine my shock when I listened to this cd and realised it had actually surpassed the hopes I held for it.
I must admit, when I first listened to it I had my reservations: I thought that maybe it was a bit too eclectic. But, now, that's what I love about this cd. Whereas with Mandalay you listened to it and fell in love with it straight away, this cd has a way of creeping up on you: the more you listen to it the more you start to enjoy it, until it almost becomes a part of you.

The music on this cd is more sparse than that on Mandalay, with Nicola often only singing over the echoes of some chords on a piano (as in 'Heart'), or indeed over nothing at all (as in 'Morning'), allowing for her extraordinary voice to shine through and making the cd even more haunting. This is perhaps most striking (especially if you have never heard Nicola's voice before) in first song 'You Will Feel Like This' where the build up of the piano and the strings suddendly cuts out to allow the full effect of Nicola's voice to come through. This often sparing use of the backing music also means that when the music does build up into the exuberant layers that we were used to in Mandalay, it hits you with full force: such as in 'I Forgive Me' or the stunning 'Feel'.
Mandalay fans will also be pleased to know that, whilst this cd does significantly distance itself from Mandalay, it does take the best bits of that band along with it, such as the luscious soundscape effects we all know and love.

So basically, if you like Mandalay I can guarantee you this cd will not disappoint. In fact, I can only think of one criticism for the entire cd and that is in the song 'I forgive me' which, whilst being a fantastic song in its own right and also displaying Nicola's versatility as an artist, I feel slightly upsets the overall tone of the album

Now for those of you have never heard Mandalay, or Nicola's voice before: how to describe this cd? 'Downbeat electronica with ethereal vocals'? 'Dreamy trip-hop'? 'Pop music for mature listeners'? Either way, it most likely won't be like anything you've heard before. Even though I hate doing this, especially with an artist as unique as Nicola, sometimes the best way to describe an artist to someone who has never heard them before is to compare them to others. So: imagine a vocalist with a voice that sounds like a cross between The Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Frasier and Portishead's Beth Gibbons singing over music that sounds like a cross between Dido's and Bjork's, and, well... you'd be almost there. Still, you need to hear it for real before you truly know what listening experience you're in for.

In conclusion, unless you only limit you're listening to death metal or punk rock or something along those lines, I can pretty much guarantee that you'll enjoy this cd. [...]