A.C. Marias

  • A.C. Marias
  • One of Our Girls (Has Gone Missing) (Mute/Restless) 1989 

When not working behind the camera as a successful video clip director, Angela Conway steps up to the mic and assumes the identity of cool chanteuse A.C. Marias. On her quietly atmospheric records, she receives writing and production assistance from Wire guitarist Bruce Gilbert, as well as former Fad Gadget sideman-turned-bigtime-producer John Fryer. The somnolent first side of One of Our Girls — a sheer pastel curtain of arty guitar figures, light synth strains, and dry, wispy vocals that never quite achieves song-ness — floats by uneventfully. Fortunately, the rest of the record has more structural starch, and Marias’ dance through an evanescent field of gentle art-rock has moments of real allure.

[Ira Robbins]