Gifts In Secret is Elizabeth Bradley and Michael Riddick. Elizabeth Bradley doesn’t exactly ring a bell, but this real good-looking blonde singer has already performed in numerous countries. Michael Riddick is for sure a renowned artist. Being involved in bands like The Soil Bleeds Black, Hexentanz or yet 15 Delights Of Dionysus he of course is also the owner (together with brother Mark) of Fossil Dungeon. Gifts In Secrets is the first album of the duo, which sounds like a rather intimate, but passionate work. Elizabeth Bradley literally plays with her voice like an instrument. Her voice is remarkable united to the music. The songs move from more evasive and rather ballad-inspired compositions to darker and a bit new-wave minded cuts. The darker side is definitely the one I prefer. The song “All This Love” opening the album is a pretty cool example in the genre but there’s also “Pictures Of You” with a guitar play reminding to The Cure and the excellent last cut “Where Did My Heart Go?”. The last song evokes souvenirs of Cocteau Twins although it’s less dark. The ballad-style indeed isn’t my favorite part of this release, but it brings some diversity in between the songs. The most noticeable cut in the genre is “Never Came Home” with Elizabeth singing in a very childish way. I don’t know if it has been that easy for this married couple to release this album, but the result is honest. Notice by the way that the album was released for the USA on Fossil Dungeon and for Europe (in Russia) on Other Voices. SIDE-LINE MAGAZINE MAY 2011