Listening to Jette-Ive's "In The Deep" is a bit like going through a passionate relationship that ultimately ends with each participant, once so attracted, as equally estranged. The pair behind this project are Jette Kelly and Holmes Ives. Jette is the siren whose strong vocal style is the sole reason for the estrangement I felt by the end of the album. Ives is the composer who couples cinematic strings and jazzy moods with slow, solid, jazz, hip-hop and Latin influenced percussion.

1. Darker Than You
2. Vexed
3. In The Presence Of...
4. E~
5. Wicked Game
6. Proximity
7. Supine
8. Ultimately, Darling
9. Thin Ice
10. A Priori
11. Midnight On Monday

The first handful of tracks make for a great listening session; from the dense, breathy melodies of "Darker Than You" to the perfectly ricketing percussion and melancholy synth work of "Vexed", Jette's vocal style works incredibly well with the tone and tension of the music. Her voice exudes a perfectly tempered torchy sultriness in the more jumping rhythms of "In The Presence of...", although the lyrics are a little overdone at times.

It's during their cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" that the strength of Jette's voice starts to make itself too well known. When its breathy and softly entoned, it really works, but as the songs progress, the softness in her voice gives way, and instead of exploring variations of melody and softened affect, which would have played to her strengths, Jette begins singing in more assertive, less melodic tones.

My critique of Jette's vocals isn't at all to say she doesn't sing well, she does so very well, it's simply to say that all good things must be served in moderation. While I should have used more words describing the wonderfully composed music of Jette-Ives, you may have noticed how Jette's voice has also too strongly dominated this review.

All this being said, don't pass up In The Deep, because in small doses you're likely to find some true gems in the smoky, super-slow breaks and jazz-lounging torch space. There is a lot of promise behind this duo, so my hope is that as they have a chance to mature their work more together, a better balance will be struck between vocals and instrumentation as it unfolds over the course of an album.

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