Private Suit

Private Suit, Bettie Serveert's fourth studio outing, is a considerable return to form in the sense that so many years later, both artist and listener alike finally understand that what's past is past -- when Carol Van Dijk wails "So don't worry about me/'cause you can't please everyone" on the disc's bewitching title track, it's clear that the group is finally back to making music solely on their own terms; and ironically enough, Private Suit comes closer to recapturing the brilliance of Palomine than any other Bettie Serveert record, by implicitly acknowledging that a return to former glories is an unreachable ideal. Credit much of the album's dusky allure to the atmospheric production of John Parish, which lends a shadowy beauty, revealing new layers of subtlety lurking underneath the band's ragged guitar-pop approach; the focal point is still Van Dijk's searing vocals, which harness the extremes of both pride and desperation to devastating effect.