As with many young bands these days, The Duke Spirit has a great deal of hype to live up to. Their debut album Cuts Across The Land showed a distinct sound but failed to impress musically especially given all the build-up. But such is life in this NME style-over-substance music world. The band is fronted by the striking Liela Moss whose vocal delivery is strong yet breathy and definitively leads their gothic garage-indie sound. After an extensive US tour in 2006 and the Ex-Voto EP, work started on the ’difficult’ (always a cliché) second album Neptune. Written in England but recorded in Joshua Tree, California with QOTSA producer Chris Goss, the expectations are huge.Moving swiftly through the 30 second opener I Do Believe, a kind of vocal warm-up, the album starts with the mighty Send A Little Love Token, a fusion of guitars, thumping piano, and Moss’s delicious vocals. The Step And The Walk is arguably better, lazy bass leading the ghostly vocals before Moss is back - more soulful and sultry. The chorus ’Without joy, joy, joy and the rain, I could feel forever the same’ is exquisite and the band seem to find new energy into the second verse. The drums crash in after the second chorus, more empty vocals, then guitars leading into the finale.
In contrast the first track from the Ex-Voto EP Dog Roses is a bit laboured, as if the band are trying to finding inspiration performing an old song. Even the stark cold piano sounds forced. The stabbing guitar opening of Into The Fold sounds more energetic even if the chorus doesn’t quite fit, and the hook is lifted from Stereolab doing Dr. Feelgood (maybe deliberate as the lyrics indicate). This Ship Was Built To Last slows things down again, but unlike Dog Roses, there is a commitment. Moss again weaves cryptic poems through a heavy darkness topped with a rasping brass section which reaches a chaotic Spiritualized-esque crescendo. Great stuff.
Wooden Heart is another revelation, a slow moody ballad ’I would understand your heart if I could feel it’, sings Moss sounding more soulful than ever. The melody of the verse vocals compliment the rising guitars in the chorus perfectly. As the trumpets emerge again, the song builds up to a less dramatic climax than the previous track with an odd false ending.
You Really Wake Up The Love In Me sounds like the flip-side of The Step And The Walk, with the same ideas but a weaker song. A great chorus is marred by disjointed verses and uninspired grating guitars. My Sunken Treasure also feels like it should benefit from darker production and less woo-hoo backing vocals. ’Yeah you have your own heart and I can’t be rid of mine. Still you walk this one path and I can’t driven from mine’ speaks of stubbornness killing a relationship. It’s a surprising highlight.
The second track from Ex-Voto and previous single Lassoo is a great 3 minute pop song. Moss sings of a longing for home. ’This is the first day I want the rolling hills again. Where I can make plans with pictures too…’. The use of brass accompaniment rising from the background is another stroke of genius. Penultimate song Neptune’s Call is a bit too crafted, possibly more the influence of Goss who adds a darker edge. It has proved a difficult thing to balance. The lyrics are strange and beguiling: ’I tasted the salt on you, now I have a tongue tattoo…’. It’s the album’s unofficial title track and themed likewise. The guitar ending could be a lot longer to add a bit of needed self-indulgence. The album closes with the low-key Sovereign which sounds like a reworking of Inspiral Carpets’ This Is How It Feels by Mazzy Starr.
Ultimately The Duke Spirit have delivered when so much was expected of them. Many new bands create albums full of singles and tracks from EPs which differ in production and sound. This is not so much the case here as there is a consistent atmosphere throughout thanks to guidance and rerecording. But even though Neptune does feel at times like more packaging than substance, there are ideas and depth, and a huge improvement on the directionless debut.
-- CS
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