Until recently, Caroline Blind was perhaps better known as the former frontperson for Sunshine Blind (1991-2003); a band Andrew Eldritch of The Sisters of Mercy once notoriously refused to follow on stage, because they were “too gothic”. ‘The Spell Between’, however, is certainly not that. While the album’s goth pedigree is undeniable, its stylistic range is richly varied, from dark folk, to alternative rock and post-punk, through to triphop and ethereal dreampop influences. Indeed, a surprisingly fitting version of ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ by Bill Withers almost sounds more like a cover of Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’ than it does the original song. Nevertheless, the album’s gothic roots are manifested both through Blind's own distinctive reinterpretations of songs from Sunshine Blind, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, The Wake, and Swans, and through her exhaustive list of chosen collaborators. That list, both on and off her solo album, is a veritable who’s who of her US and UK goth rock peers. For ‘The Spell Between’, they included not only Rich W. (The Wake (US)) and Wolfie (Red Lorry Yellow Lorry), but William Faith (Faith and the Muse, The Bellwether Syndicate), Gordon Young (Children on Stun, Pretentious Moi?), George Earth (Switchblade Symphony), and Ashe Rüppe (Delphine Coma, Trance to the Sun), among others.