Words: Gareth O’Malley
They say that you should never judge a book – or in this case, an album – by its cover, but if you were to make assumptions about The Mercury Program’s fourth record, ‘Chez Viking’ based on its cover displaying an image of tranquility, guessing that within lay an album heavy on ambience and atmospherics, you would be absolutely spot-on. The US-based quartet (from Gainsville, Florida, to be precise), consisting of Dave Lebleu on drums, Sander Travisano on bass, his brother Whit on vibraphone and piano, and Tom Reno completing the line-up on guitar, are pitched towards the more minimal styles of post-rock. They’ve been an entirely instrumental outfit since 2001’s EP ‘All The Suits Began To Fall Off’.
The thing that I like the most about this record is that it creates its own little world for the listener to get lost in for thirty or so minutes. The songs that make up the album are quite easy to just get lost in on initial listens, but as time passes, little details begin revealing themselves.
Not the most easily accessible album due to less of an emphasis on melody (all seven songs’ hooks can be best described as skeletal), the band are clearly focusing on the rhythm section of Lebleu and Travisano. The former really is an astonishing drummer. I myself am a sticksman, so I can appreciate a band if their drummer is even half-decent – but Lebleu really is something else. His work here is jazz-influenced and simply outstanding, particularly on the percussive ‘Stand And Sing’ (which I really feel is far too short). Brooding seven-minute epic ‘Katos’ is the centrepiece of ‘Chez Viking’, driven by a mesmerising bass line courtesy of Travisano. Second track ‘Departed/Arrived’ – recently featured on our weekly playlist becomes a standout. The addition of steel drums to a number of the tracks adds quite a lot to the album – even such a small thing as this being thrown into the mix increases its power exponentially.
This is quite the impressive listen. One that requires time, of course, but you’ll find that so many albums of this kind do. Which makes it all the more rewarding when everything clicks into place.
8.2
Take Three
- Departed/Arrived
- Katos
- Stand And Sing
Look closer. Enough evidence?
Get excited.
HEALTH look to be following up ‘Get Color‘ with another ‘DISCO’ (remix) album. The first ‘Health//Disco’, released last year, was a fantastic compilation, giving new life to the band’s songs.
ALBUM REVIEW: Johnny Foreigner – Grace And The Bigger Picture
Words: Gareth O’Malley
Difficult second album? Pfft. As if. The Birmingham noise-pop trio seem as though they had an absolute whale of a time recording this. ‘Grace And The Bigger Picture’, in the words of the band (Alexei Berrow, Kelly Southern and Junior Elvis Washington Laidley – guitarist, bassist and drummer respectively) themselves, is ‘a ‘band on tour’ album’; each of the record’s fifteen tracks were written whilst on the road, supporting last year’s debut full-length, the stunning ‘Waited Up Til It Was Light’.
This is reflected in the subject matter too. Whereas ‘Waited Up’ was all about Birmingham itself, ‘Bigger Picture’ is very much about the band’s experiences on tour last year. It certainly sounds like a more ‘mature’ record. However, those of you who are expecting a completely different band to the Johnny Foreigner of 2008 should stop reading now: the band have definitely moved on, yet at the same time still sound like themselves. In other words, it is a natural progression from the debut.
The thing that strikes you most about this album is how much there is on there. Some would look at the tracklist and say, “Fifteen tracks? Fuck this, too long.” Au contraire. ‘Grace And The Bigger Picture’ epitomises brevity. Bar two tracks, the album is comprised of sub-two minute songs. Not much room to get bored on here, then.
Things get off to a suitably frantic start with the opening combo of ‘Choose Yr Side And Shut Up!’ and ‘Security To The Promenade’. The former begins with a cry of ‘And it starts like this‘, before an excellent riff comes in, heralding a simple yet astoundingly effective opener: two choruses, two verses, solo, all in less than two minutes. The latter shows us that lyricist Alexei has definitely not lost his touch: ‘Let this burn itself out / We’ll all stay warm somehow‘. It also features some vocal interplay between Kelly and Junior, and, memorably, seems to come screeching to an abrupt halt, before a reprise of the main riff ushers in the final chorus.
There are quieter moments here too, ones that allow the listener to take a breather. ‘Bigger Picture’ is quite a chaotic listen, and barely ever lets up. When it does, however, we get some memorable softer moments, like ‘I’llchoosemysideandshutup, alright’, an almost ballad-like song. We also get ‘(Graces)’. Note the brackets; it seems that the band intended this to be an interlude of some sort. It runs for just 40 seconds, and is the closest the record gets to a fully acoustic song, like ‘DJs Get Doubts’ off the debut. This is quite a shame, as ‘(Graces)’ is one of the standout tracks here. It features some standout lyrics too (‘Trading heartbreak for sentiment, like paying the rent’).
This is very much the complete package: we have the uptempo songs that the band are best known for (like current single ‘Criminals’, ‘Dark Harbourzz’ and ‘Ghost The Festivals’), and more reflective moments, as well as some new elements thrown in, like the counterparts of ‘More Heart, Less Tongue’ – quite clearly about touring (‘So London might as well be Glasgow / Might as well be Tokyo, or any place, we’re almost leaving’) - and ‘More Tongue, Less Heart’ – an instrumental.
One thing about Johnny Foreigner has definitely remained the same, however, and it’s this: they really do know how to close an album. ‘The Coast Was Always Clear’ is, quite simply, sensational, on a par with, or even better than, ‘Absolute Balance’. There are many good riffs to be found on ‘Bigger Picture’, but the one that opens proceedings on ‘Coast’ will ensure that the song will go down as a classic amongst fans. Boasting one of the strongest climaxes of any song this year, it ends in suitably chaotic fashion, the call of ‘Some summers! Some summers!‘ (an extremely well-executed reprise of lead single ‘Feels Like Summer’’s hook), bringing the curtain down on what may just be the band’s finest song to date.
The album is just shy of 36 minutes long. Johnny Foreigner say so much, in so little time. Their melody-writing has definitely improved. And once again: ‘The Coast Was Always Clear’ is nothing short of sensational. It really needs to be heard to be believed. ‘Waited Up Til It Was Light’ was a collection of songs; ‘Grace And The Bigger Picture’ feels like a proper album. The band went into the sessions with a concept, and it’s strengthened the cohesion exponentially.
In other words: This is a truly wonderful record.
9.7
mp3: (Graces)
http://www.nme.com/video/bcid/44775638001/search/NME
“Laura, baby, I’m right here
And I don’t wanna fight anymore
I really wanna be your friend forever
Friend until the end of your-”
The finest chorus on ‘Album’, but it doesn’t even match the sun-tinged guitar solo that closes the track. And consider that this very writer hates guitar solos the majority of the time. This visual companion displays nine shots at the same time, featuring a topless female on the beach that one would judge to be the Laura, alongside some trivial shots of the band playing and looking all retrospective and cooool.
mp3//
ALBUM REVIEW: Editors – In This Light And On This Evening
Words: Gareth O’Malley
Editors’ second album, ‘An End Has A Start’ was released on June 25th, 2007. Barely two weeks had passed when the band debuted a new song, ‘Banging Heads’. It seemed to show them moving in a more cinematic, heavier direction, but was rather disappointingly toned down (more than a little) when it made its appearance as a b-side to ‘The Racing Rats’ in November of that year.
You could see clearly, however, that Editors were itching to try new things, and more new material surfaced last summer when they premiered ‘No Sound But The Wind’, a song that was another step away from their earlier work. It is finally going to see the light of day on the rather brilliant-looking Twilight: New Moon soundtrack, released on October 19th.
As other new tracks were premiered earlier this year, and the tracklist etc. was revealed, speculation about the album grew. Would this be a complete reinvention, or simply a slight shift in sound?
Having spent quite some time with this record since it premiered on we7.com on Monday, I can say with certainty that it is the former. ‘In This Light And On This Evening’ is still Editors, alright, but Editors as we have never heard them before… and it is spectacular.
The ominous-sounding title track opens proceedings in a far better way than ‘Lights’ (from 2005’s ‘The Back Room’) and ‘Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors’ did. It coasts along on synths and Tom Smith’s vocals (‘I swear to god, I heard the earth inhale / Moments before it spat its rain down on me’) before exploding into life. Ed Lay’s drums and Russell Leetch’s bass enter simultaneously, the latter’s riff the base of the wall of sound that is created over the remainder of the track. A blistering song that announces to the world: Yes, we’re back.
Next up is the longest Editors song to date. ‘Bricks and Mortar’ is an epic six-minute track, once again built upon Leetch’s bass. He is the man who holds the album together; there is a prominent bass line in nearly every track here (the atmospheric ‘Walk The Fleet Road’ is the exception). A racing verse gives way to the best chorus the album has to offer. ‘Pour salt water on the wound,’ Smith sings as the synths take the song into the stratosphere.
Storming lead single ‘Papillon’ is an excellent track. It cannot be faulted musically, yet something seems a little off about it being on the album. ‘In This Light And On This Evening’ is quite a dark record – listen to the chilling ‘The Big Exit’ and you’ll see what I mean – and this slice of New Order-esque synth-pop seems oddly out of place. Nevertheless, if it can be said that this album has an anthem on it, this is surely it.
Elsewhere, second single ‘Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool’ – its status as such all but confirmed by the performance on ‘Later… With Jools Holland’ on Sept 25th – is like a gothic Talking Heads covering some long-lost 80s pop song; the quirkiest song in the band’s oeuvre by quite some distance.
The album closes with ‘Walk The Fleet Road’, a song reminiscent of ‘Distance’ (off ‘The Back Room’). It is a truly beautiful track, featuring an excellent vocal from Smith (which includes an uncharacteristically high-pitched chorus), reminding us that when Editors go for the softer approach, it nearly always pays off (‘Push Your Head Towards The Air’, anyone?).
Bookended by two of the most powerful tracks the band have written, ‘In This Light And On This Evening’ is indeed a brave record, shockingly left-field for a band such as Editors. The change in sound has done wonders for them: Smith has proved himself to be quite a versatile singer; Lay has stripped his drumming back to simplistic yet astonishingly effective beats; Chris Urbanowicz, while his trademark tremolo guitar is pretty much absent here, has lent a new dimension to the band’s sound with his synths; and the album pretty much belongs to Leetch. The band’s most consistent record so far, it will split the fanbase down the middle – in fact, it seems to already have done so – but I’m sure that this was the intention from the start, and must applaud them for this. Well done.
8.8
mp3: Editors – Walk The Fleet Road [alt].8
ALBUM REVIEW: The Twilight Sad – Forget The Night Ahead
Words: Gareth O’Malley
The first thing that struck me about ‘Forget The Night Ahead’ was the noise that opened the album. Not many records this year have managed to send a shiver down my spine in the first ten seconds, but this has been one of them, and it’s continuing to have that effect. From this, I knew instinctively that The Twilight Sad’s second record would be two things: A step up from their 2007 debut ‘Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters’ (which was impressive in itself), and an intense listen. I thought too that it would be quite an unsettling one. It’s not… well, at least until you consider the lyrics. James Graham (vocals) has told us that the album contains far darker lyrics than any of their other material. But more on that later.
As said, the album opens with that sound. Pounding drums enter, as ‘Reflection of the Television’ gets going. The emphasis here is on the bassline (courtesy of Craig Orzel), which reels the listener in from its first note. However, the lyrics deserve a special mention here. They are rather cryptic, their meaning shrouded in mystery. In fact, Graham has said that ‘you need to look into them a bit to realise [that they are so dark]. They are mainly based around things that have happened to me over the past two years, revolving mainly around losing people and being none too proud or happy with myself about my antics and situations I’ve found myself in’. ‘I stole it from a letter / Off your tongue it rolled / Sheltered from the weather you could be so bold,’ he sings, as the song builds to a stunning climax. One of the most intense opening tracks I have heard this year, it sets such a mood that you would be forgiven for thinking that the album is going to be a rather downbeat affair.
However, by the end of the next track, ‘I Became A Prostitute’, you should realise that while ‘Forget The Night Ahead’ seems impenetrable from the outset, as it unfolds it becomes clear that the songs here are the most accessible the band have written to date. Most every song here could be a single – with the exceptions of the instrumental ‘Scissors’, a track that can be summed up in one word: terrifying; and also ‘Floorboards Under The Bed’, which, with its a capella introduction and unusual song structure, is a song that could be considered a bit of a departure for the band.
The two most immediate tracks here, however, are, in my opinion, two of the finest songs that The Twilight Sad have written. One, driven by piano (which lends an oddly Coldplay-esque sound to it – don’t get me wrong; that is not a criticism, but more a statement that highlights the track’s anthemic qualities. The chorus is the most uplifting section on the album, despite, again, those lyrics: ‘Don’t tell anyone else that you were seen in the cherry tree / Look what you have done / You’re all on your own’), is ‘The Room’. The other is the incredible ‘The Neighbours Can’t Breathe’, a track built upon Andy McFarlane’s skyscraping riff, as well as some impressive drumming from Mark Devine. Graham’s lyrics are once again worthy of note: ‘You had to lie / Your secret’s safe and sound /…you keep pulling all the heart strings’.
Closer ‘At The Burnside’ is reminiscent of Sigur Rós, and also a remarkable end to an exceptional album. ‘Forget The Night Ahead’ is a triumph, yet another in a list of great Scottish albums from 2009. Startlingly intense from ‘Television’ to ‘Burnside’, and a clear progression for The Twilight Sad, it is a thrilling listen. There really does seem to be something for everyone here, whether it’s the immediacy of songs such as ‘Made To Disappear’, ‘The Room’ and ‘The Neighbours Can’t Breathe’, or the thrilling walls of noise created on ‘That Birthday Present’ and ‘Interrupted’. It will be quite interesting to hear where next the band take their sound. Until then, though, enjoy this record. Preferably quite loud.
9.1
The Twilight Sad – Reflection of the Television [alt]
ALBUM REVIEW: The Cribs – Ignore The Ignorant
Words: Gareth O’Malley
You might not believe this, but The Cribs went Top 10 in the U.K. with this record last Sunday. Ryan, Gary and Ross Jarman, as well as a certain Johnny Marr, have together released The Cribs’ most successful record to date. I feel that such success has been long overdue for such a talented band. It’s just a shame, then, that the album responsible for this success bucks the trend of each album improving on the last. This is no ‘Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever’ (the band’s thrilling third album), although I would have been stunned if the trend continued.
Regardless of comparisons to previous albums, and comments on its success, how does ‘Ignore The Ignorant’ stack up on it’s own? Well, The Cribs are clearly quite a different band now. Whether or not the addition of Marr to their ranks is responsible for this, I couldn’t say, but the unexpected change in direction has resulted in the creation of a very good album indeed.
‘We Were Aborted’ opens proceedings, and as would be expected, is a great opener – something that each of the band’s album’s has had. It has been repeatedly stated by the band that ‘Ignorant’ is not a political record, but there are certainly lines here that could be interpreted as such, like this one: ‘Make you feel important / ‘Cause you knew we were aborted / It’s the same things that they’re saying all the time (These might be views, but they’ll never be mine)’.
There are a number of spiky, uptempo rockers here (‘Aborted’; ‘Hari Kari’ – which features an absolutely brilliant shouty climax – and ‘Nothing’ – in which a defiant pose is struck, possibly in view to selling out: ‘I won’t dance around no maypole!’ – among them) but it is clear that the new-found maturity here has shifted focus to the slower songs. In fact, one of the highlights here is one such track. Anthemic chorus, check. Tender acoustic verses, check. Whistling (!), check. Personally, this is the side of ‘Ignore The Ignorant’ I have grown to prefer, and would love to hear more Cribs in the style of ‘Secrets’, or album closer ‘Stick To Yr Guns’, which features strings (!!).
A major plus point for ‘Ignorant’ is that it contains the best thing The Cribs have ever written: the majestic ‘City of Bugs’. Driven by Gary’s suitably Smiths-esque bass, it features a skyscraping chorus propelled by Marr’s tremelo guitar line. A mini-epic at six-and-a-half minutes, it trumps even ‘Be Safe’ off of ‘Men’s Needs…’
While it’s not exactly upwards for this lot, it is most definitely onwards. A skilful progression from their earlier albums, it differs too from them in the fact that whereas they were much more immediate and instantly gratifying, ‘Ignore The Ignorant’ takes time. On first listen, I was massively underwhelmed, but now. The urgency may have diminished more than a little here, but ‘Britain’s biggest cult band’ are as powerful as ever.
8.3
The Cribs – Save Your Secrets [alt]
ALBUM REVIEW: Deastro – Moondagger
Words: Gareth O’Malley
Originally scribed for This Is Fake DIY
Mr. Randy Chabot, we are sorry to tell you this, but you have, despite your best attempts to cover it up with interesting production and unusual song structures, made an album that is poppy as hell.
The 22-year-old is the driving force behind an album that seems to never stop growing on you. Before we get to all that, though, one thing must be stated: this guy has been making music for years. It is only now that Chabot has decided to expand his Deastro project and turn it into a full-band venture. So, with the addition of Jeff Supina on drums, Mark Smak on guitar and Brian Connelly on bass and keys, Deastro present ‘Moondagger’, an album that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Animal Collective’s ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’, which was, if you recall, hyped to absolutely ridiculous levels. Eight months on from release, it has lost none of its ability to inspire giddiness in the listener. It is a joyous listen, and the same can be said for ‘Moondagger’.
The percussive rush of opener ‘Biophelia’ sets the tone for the album. Immediately, the album’s production grabs the attention. The vocals sound strangely muffled; The focus is on everything else: the keyboard washes that are a cornerstone of Deastro’s sound, the rock-steady bass, and the prominent drums.
Each song here is positively full to the brim with hooks. They do not become apparent immediately – it could be said that ‘Parallelogram’ is the most immediate song here – but rather are more subtle, gradually revealing themselves to the listener over time. They’re definitely there though. Massive choruses are present too. The MGMT-esque ‘Tone Adventure #3’ (you think that’s a strange song title? You have seen nothing yet…) contains some of the best lyrics on the album. Yes, when you can make them out, they are, more often than not, spot-on, such as this line: ‘I know all the answers, the questions are keeping the score’.
‘Moondagger’ also contains a couple of instrumentals. They stand up on their own, though, and are not intended to be filler. ‘Rivers of Life’ sounds almost like a Battles song, except with added xylophone, and the breathtaking ‘Pyramid Builders’ contains the best hook on the album: a joyous keyboard line.
The song titles complement ‘Moondagger’’s sound, too. Some of the highlights are: ‘Greens, Grays And Nordics’, ‘Kurgan Wave Number One’, and – deep breath – ‘Daniel Johnston Was Stabbed In The Heart With The Moondagger By The King Of Darkness And His Ghost Is Writing This Song As A Warning To All Of Us’. That last one is the longest song title I have seen in quite some time, and it’s a cracking song to boot.
Here, Deastro strike the right balance between ‘experimental’ and ‘accessible’. Diverse in sound and ambitious in scope, ’Moondagger’ is an album that could blow a hole in the wall if enough people caught onto it. An album that is just a bit brilliant.
9.0
Deastro – Parallelograms alt
MFM @ HYPEM
