Theater is Evil

(8ft records)

There is a danger that Amanda Palmer's new album, funded by internet crowd-sourcing to the tune of a record $1.2 million – some 12 times her original Kickstarter target – becomes better known for that than the quality of the music. This would be a great shame, because what she has done with the money (or however much of it she spent on the actual recording process), is make a very fine album that has found her ambition matched by the faith her fans have had in her. It is an epic undertaking of 15 tracks, a third of them over six minutes, clocking up over 70 minutes of music that never seems a moment too long.