The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream (Album Review 2014)

The War On Drugs has been, and will always be, a band of one... Adam Granduciel has taken his labour of love further into his own mind on third album Lost In The Dream, to explore his conciousness, his life and his emotional state. It was always going to be tough to go one better than previous album Slave Ambient, a swirling vortex of prog-rock, subtle floating soundscapes and brilliant guitar-led pop songs - all washed with Granduciel's Dylan-like vocals. So, given the inward, self-indulgent nature of The War On Drugs, Lost In The Dream, a new album of material written mainly while touring, undergoing many rewrites and reworks, was never going to be as good.


But it is. Lost In The Dream is a different album than Slave Ambient, subtly different in its approach and delivery. While the previous album is big, bold and wide-eyed, Lost In The Dream is closed, introverted and personal. From opener Under The Pressure, it is clear that Granduciel wants to share his pain and anxiety of being in the spotlight and living up to expectations. At nearly nine minutes, this is the longest song on the album; it ebbs and flows with lifts and falls before the only truly weak point: instead of dropping into a quiet, ambient lull for a minute before returning with shining guitars and pounding drums for the big finish, absolutely nothing happens. A deliberate ironic statement about not following predictable convention? Possibly...but the lack of inspiration right from the start is a real surprise.

Red Eyes provides the early 'pop' song, blending ethereal synths and guitars with racing drums. The effect is not too far from Razorlight (back in their prime), Granduciel punchy and with purpose - even throwing in an over-exuberant woop before the guitars rain-down. In contrast, Suffering is light yet melancholy, slow-paced and beautifully sublime. The gorgeous piano arrangement in the second half contrasts the oddly-random guitar work. Then the album takes a more ambitious turn with the beguiling An Ocean In Between The Waves, which could be the Dire Straits song that never was; Granduciel more Knofler than Dylan while exquisite guitars and thumping drums lead to a frantic peppering of vocals in the second half.

Continuing the lighter feel of Lost In The Dream, Disappearing provides a superb centre-piece - shining like a magnificent 80s soft-rock influenced interlude between what has come and the second act. This starts with Eyes To The Wind, one of the best songs Granduciel has written - his vocals are exposed and the arrangement unwinds with a supreme elegance; the vocal delivery a nod toward former band-mate Kurt Vile. All this is blended with more guitars, drums and the most wonderful piano. What makes this so good is that Granduciel is not hiding behind a massive stadium-filling sound. This leads to the album's only return to a trick from its predecessor: the three-minutes of The Haunting Idle gives a brief Floyd-esque reprise, but without the original song, before the final trilogy...

...begins with another album highlight and superb pop song, Burning. This feels heavily Springsteen-fuelled with ever-present organ (circa Darkness On The Edge Of Town) and driving drums. And then the title track, with delicious (never-overused) harmonica, brings another moment of class to build like a lost Neil Young classic. Obvious influences aside, this is reinvention and reinterpretation of the tried and tested and not mere copycatting. To close, In Reverse is delivered as the quiet reflection after a turbulent, cathartic, and often painful journey, never overstated and fading delicately into a soft aftermath instead of unleashing the explosives. A perfect end to a near perfect-work.

Lost In The Dream is a slow-burner...it doesn't grab your attention and sweeps you along for the ride; it draws you in, further into the inner world of Adam Granduciel on each listen. He hasn't done this all on his own of course, and the 'band' play to their strengths throughout and new boy Patrick Berkery is supreme with the sticks. But the songwriting and song-craft is every bit as strong as the new standard we now expect from The War On Drugs and ultimately Adam Granduciel has opened his heart, poured out his soul, and made another brilliant album.

-- CS

Suzanne Vega - Tales From The Realm Of The Queen Of Pentacles (Album review 2014)

Since 2007's Beauty & Crime, Suzanne Vega has revisited her own back catalogue for the 'Close-up' series - a quartet of albums sub-titled: Love Songs, People & Places, States of Being and Songs of Family. With varied results, these form an interesting and intriguing retrospective (making the 1998 and 2003 'best of' compilations largely redundant), both a celebration for fans and much needed inspiration and reflection for Vega; not to mention income and 'ownership' - to reclaim her prized work from major labels. Now, seven years since her last studio album of new material, Tales From The Realm Of The Queen Of Pentacles brings new life to Vega's music. The title is a reference to the Tarot card representing fertility, or impending motherhood - but also a double-meaning of youthful maturity, artistry and wisdom.

It would be difficult to suggest that the 'Close-up' work has had no effect on Suzanne Vega's approach to music. On one hand, she could have ignored her past completely and continued the thread started with the deep, painful and beautiful Songs In Red And Gray, but Vega - in collaboration with producer/musician Gerry Leonard - has injected a much needed sense of fun and adventure into her storytelling. The vocal delivery of opener Crack In The Wall may be uneasy and lack the precision of, say, Penitent, but this only forms the first half of the song, as the vibrant guitar-work shines throughout. Lyrically, this is a series of beguiling metaphors while Fool's Compliant is a good a single as Vega has produced, a punchy folk-pop lament filled with jangling guitars and a superb chorus. Some gorgeous backing vocals lift the arrangement further. In contrast, I Never Wear White is pure character, Vega inhabiting a darker soul - 'Black is the truth... of my situation, and for those of my station...' is the Gothic refrain before harsh, edgy guitars kick in. The two are conjoined for the angst-driven finish.

It is now clear that Tales From The Realm Of The Queen Of Pentacles is a blend of styles and substances... On Portrait of The Knight Of Wands (another Tarot card - this time referencing a man of ideas and invention, and a time of travel and progress), Vega sings delicately of a struggle and strange imagery - 'His mission, a transmission... of technology'. The final minute is an odd juxtaposition of guitars and electronic flourish to fade. Don't Uncork What You Can't Contain takes this approach to another level, with sampling meeting Eastern rhythms for a mythical tale of curiosity and misadventure. This is the most divisive song on the album, mixing different styles and sounds but ultimately failing to deliver - a rare weak drop in form. Likewise, the constant distracting hand-claps underpinning Jacob And The Angel plague an otherwise interesting song, which glides beautifully into an instrumental string-filled finale.

Further into the second half of Tales From The Realm Of The Queen Of Pentacles, Silver Bridge is wonderful. Simple, measured and perfectly executed. 'All those nights when you can't sleep...your heart and mind is racing. Are you standing on that bridge? Which way are you facing?', sings Vega, with wide-eyed optimism, in one of the album's best moments. Song Of The Stoic take the album into different territory, a tale of abuse, fighting control and ultimate flight, as the music meanders from acoustic folk to epic soundtrack. The second half brings in vocal experimentation, somewhere between Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and (dare to say) Mumford & Sons. The second part of this story, Laying On Of Hands / Stoic 2 is a funk-folk fuelled tribute to Mother Theresa (yes, really), an odd choice of styles with no hint of irony, before the song accelerates in a completely different direction to a soulful soup of vocals and thumping drums. Sublime. To close, Horizon (There Is A Road) is an elegant finish, even with the unexpected trumpet solo and Vega's vocal excursions (the attempt at falsetto just about works).

Suzanne Vega, as the title of this album suggests, is both an artist and a provider; a women of knowledge and wisdom. Tales From The Realm Of The Queen Of Pentacles is a rebirth, and has recaptured her youthful energy and enthusiasm via the process of examining her own songs through reinterpretation. She has survived the ruthless music business that made her a star and has come back fighting, smarter... and the result is new, risky, often brilliant, always compelling and above all, relevant. Much of the album is unexpected, yet familiar - not quite a reinvention (the albums 99.9F degrees and Nine Objects Of Desire are a world away from the humble New York poet beginnings) but this is certainly a reinvigoration and a chance to experiment and expand. What emerges is the most challenging and exciting Suzanne Vega album in fifteen years. And possibly one of her best.

-- CS

Mogwai - Rave Tapes (Album Review 2014)

The musical chronology of Mogwai can be defined as three acts. The début masterpiece Mogwai Young Team with its epic triplets Like Herod, R U Still In 2 It and Mogwai Fear Satan, the difficult and inconsistent but often brilliant Come On Die Young, and the textured ground-breaking keyboard-infused Rock Action, form act one. Added to these are the band's early EPs, collectively released as EP+6. Act two is one of the best trilogies of albums by any band: Happy Songs For Happy People, Mr Beast and The Hawk Is Howling are the combined sound of a band ascending to greatness; if anyone wants to own a near-perfect example of 'post rock', they should look no further than these. This era also includes the first adventurous steps into film scoring, something Mogwai were born to do: Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait is a dark, ambient and subtle soundtrack. And now, seventeen years after the band's début, Mogwai are expanding their horizons in act three: the live album Special Moves, the Earth Division EP and 'upbeat' studio album Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (in spite of the harsh title this is one of Mogwai's lighter and more liberated albums, including the wonderful Music For A Forgotten Future), then another wonderful soundtrack: Les Revenants to accompany an extraordinary series of French television (The Returned in the UK) followed a slightly disappointing remix album A Wrenched Virile Lore. An impressive body of work, now complimented by Mogwai's eighth studio release, Rave Tapes.

From the opening song, Heard About You Last Night, it's clear that Rave Tapes is an electronic-infused artistic return to The Hawk Is Howling; a typical Mogwai introduction: building slowly as a soundtrack fragment before the guitars glide in, to provide the melody, then joined by strings and synthesizers. The loose, lumbering arrangement is held together with Martin Bulloch's sublime percussion. This fails to translate into momentum (in the same way as Mr Beast's Auto Rock dives into Glasgow Maga-Snake and Batcat arrives early on The Hawk Is Howling to drive the album forward), as the fuzzy production and slow-pace of Simon Ferocious makes for a subdued start. Again, the drumming is superb. It is not until the start of Remurdered that Rave Tapes shows its teeth - the dark, menacing dread of a 'bass line' and creepy atmosphere juxtaposed with fragmented drums and guitars. Three minutes in and the keyboards and drums arrive, like the soundtrack to a movie in which 8-bit machines take over the unsuspecting world. The song builds as more layers of guitars add to the threat, while the electronic threads march to the cold, calculated finale.

Hexon Bogon is a flash of brilliance; a rare two-and-a-half-minute swathe of guitars, drums and epic production before the beguiling wonder of Repelish, an uneasy mix of start-stop guitar melody and spoken word - talking of the dangers of demonic subliminal messages in rock music. Easily the most eclectic song on any Mogwai album; unique, compelling and unexpected. Master Card is back on course, a furious staccato guitar-led piece building to a messy and abrupt finish, before the magnificent Deesh provides another highlight: a gorgeous blend of guitars, drums and keyboards used to construct a melodic arrangement of hope and despair. Mogwai at their supreme best. The final trio of songs on Rave Tapes add more vocals to an otherwise, and typical, instrumental world. Blues Hour reworks Cody beautifully with added muddy guitars and stirring piano, the soft vocals creating a new instrument instead of talking centre-stage, while No Medicine For Regret is the late highlight, with its breathtaking vibrato melody washing over the dense brooding backdrop. To close, The Lord Is Out Of Control is a lazy, droning, vocoder-filled non-entity which feels like an unnecessary distraction.

It isn't clear if Rave Tapes is the end of act three or the start of act four for Mogwai. What is clear, is a return to safety as if the band need to revisit their most creative and productive period. This makes the album a predictable and unsurprising experience, which is no bad thing - when listening to the new Bob Dylan you wouldn't expect 80s electro-pop. Mogwai's signature and unique personality is all over Rave Tapes, a thoroughly enjoyable hybrid of past and present, safe yet edgy, different but the same - exactly what you would expect from a band consistently redefining their post-rock world.

- CS

Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes (Album review 2014)

Revisiting old material isn't always easy, but if anyone can pull it off, it's The Boss. Given that in recent years, Bruce Springsteen has lost two of his closest friends and long-serving members of The E Street Band: Danny Federici and Clarence Clemons, it's fitting that he should give them one final walk on stage (they each appear on two songs and together on one). High Hopes comprises many reworks, two covers and studio recordings of tour favourites, with the former Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello (who toured as part of The E Street Band in 2008/9) instrumental (pun intended) in bringing this album to life. His presence and skill is (almost) ever-present.

To say this doesn't feel like a proper Springsteen album would be wrong; if you didn't know High Hopes is a collection of covers, re-recordings and 'rejects', most wouldn't know or case. Obviously even a passing fan would pick up on The Ghost Of Tom Joad but as a cohesive work, it stands alone. Not all albums have a strong narrative and a central 'story' and the last few Springsteen albums (Wrecking Ball and Magic most notably) are good examples. The title track (originally from the Blood Brothers EP - and not written by Springsteen), complete with brass flashes and odd arrangement, is a solid, attention-grabbing opener, followed by The Rising cut Harry's Place, a song better than half of those that made the album. This is a running theme in the world of Bruce...as The Promise shows.

The two covers on High Hopes almost steal the album. Just Like Fire Would, originally by The Saints, is wonderfully faithful to the original but sounds very 'Springsteen', with added organ, denser guitar work and, of course, the trademark rasping vocals. And Suicide's cold, stark Dream Baby Dream is given a warmer interpretation with softer keyboards, stronger vocals and a fuller sound. A brilliant reworking. To complement this, Hunter Of Invisible Game wouldn't be out of place on the marvellous Devils & Dust, perfectly produced with delicate strings and guitars, Springsteen on top vocal form delivering his poetry. But the two stand-out moments have to be twin seven minute epics of American Skin (41 Shots), brilliantly recorded to capture the spirit of the live recording, and the legendary masterpiece The Ghost Of Tom Joad, complete with Morello's manic impossible guitars filling out the second half.

High Hopes is far from ground-breaking and not beyond criticism - after all if you are one of the most famous musicians in the world you better live up to it... and even here, Bruce Springsteen can make an album that is engaging and warm. It's not all good news as songs like the obvious Heaven's Wall, the hapless Frankie Fell In Love and the Celtic-infused This Is Your Sword drag the middle of High Hopes down but the gorgeous balladry of The Wall is another understated gem - Springsteen at his best when he just tells a story, plain and simple; especially poignant when it's a story close to your heart. The trumpet solo to finish and organ from the late Federici, are breathtaking. This album is more a labour of love than a statement of intent.

-- CS

Throwing Muses - Purgatory/Paradise (Album Review 2013)

Throwing Muses, now officially a three-piece of Kristin Hersh, Bernard Georges and David Narcizo, seem to have broken-up and reformed more times than most, but this could not be further from the truth. The band reformed ten years ago after disbanding in 1997, when Hersh went solo (her début Hips And Makers is astonishing and always reveals something new on repeat listens), but Throwing Muses has always been 'her' band and her passion. The early nineties began with the last album to feature Tanya Donelly, The Real Ramona - easily one of the best Throwing Muses albums, before Red Heaven and University complete the impressive trilogy. Since then, music has been sparse and uneven. It's been ten years without material and the release of 2003's eponymous album (released to coincide with the Hersh's more interesting solo album The Grotto) and reuniting with Donelly got fans hoping for a full reformation. Hersh has continued her solo work but has now returned to Georges and Narcizo to make Purgatory/Paradise.

Purgatory/Paradise is twenty-four songs, eight in two parts and scattered (seemingly) randomly across the album in thirty-two fractured pieces. This lack of 'album structure' and apparent chaotic nature of the song order is frustrating but this creates a quirky charm as familiar reprises and sounds re-emerge at different points, throughout over an hour of music. The songs are dark and atmospheric, moody and thoughtful with highs and lows, and ebbs and flows. What else from such a unique and compelling band lead by a singer who feels that she doesn't write music and lyrics, she channels them from some higher power. This isn't ego-tripping so much as an inability to accept her genius. And to complement this, Purgatory/Paradise is both unique and compelling, and quite brilliant.

The early highlight is the superb guitars and vocals of Sunray Venus. Hersh is magnificent, as she reveals the land 'where no-one remembers to pray', as are the guitars to finish. Opiates, with rushing verses, then slower, repeated refrain: 'that's no way to bring a body down', is either a stark warning or a guide to cold turkey; the acoustic guitars and drums magnificent throughout. And a good example of a Throwing Muses pop song, Freesia, has more great guitar-work, while Lazy Eye is more riff than content with raw emotional vocals from Hersh. But the best of the 'complete' songs is the powerful Slippershell - Hersh sings 'Hard to say it's hard luck, when you're so happy. Hard to say it's hard luck, when we had it coming...'. Then Milan blends more of the same, but building to a delicate finish.

Within these highlights are eclectic shards, like pieces of a stained-glass window smashed across a stone floor. Film is all big vocals and piano, Hersh sneering. Triangle Quanitico is piano-led 'jazz', Bluff is a slow piano ballad with Hersh's fragile vocals, and Walking Talking is the start of a much longer song that fades before it starts. Terra Nova adds strings and beautiful vocals, and Hersh asks: 'what kind of loser chooses a swan-dive over a swansong?'. Static brings together multi-vocals and guitars while Speedbath starts like the middle of a 35 minute Neil Young and Crazy Horse solo, with dark and muddy guitars, and a slow fade.

And of the split songs, Morning Birds is a fuzzy guitar break from start, crashing drums and cymbals, layers of circular vocals form the intro and then a fragile start-stop vocal melody. Part 2 continues, more robust and structured. Dripping Trees is gorgeous vocals/harmonies and guitar work, in two parts, and the chaos of Blurry mixes wonderful guitar work, obscure provocative lyrics to a multi-vocal ending, and part 2 continues with lighter guitars but louder voice. Smoky Hands starts with delicate guitars, then lazy drums, while part 2 adds a short guitar solo. And with Sleepwalking, part 1 (appearing near the end of the album, after part 2) is hard, fuzzy guitars and harsh vocals, yet part 2 (the third track) is completely different.

Purgatory/Paradise is a reminder that Throwing Muses are still here, with very nearly a perfect return. It's a challenging listen; just as you get hold of a song, it drifts away or ends abruptly to move on to the next idea. The effect is like a dream within a dream in which the dreamer is switching channels constantly and even within the same songs, the arrangements start and stop, head in a different direction, or do something unexpected. This is strange, even by Throwing Muses standards, but it works beautifully as an idea and a collection of songs. And the stand-out 'complete' songs emerge magnificently from within. Purgatory/Paradise is frustratingly fragmented, brilliantly beguiling and weirdly wonderful.

-- CS

Bowling For Soup - 'Lunch. Drunk. Love.' (Album Review 2013)

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can arrive in many forms and when you least or most expect. But sometimes it comes to you. Bowling For Soup decided that new album 'Lunch. Drunk. Love.' should be fan-funded using the music promotion website pledgemusic.com. Whatever you think about the state of the music industry and if bands should be 'taking the power back' and going it 'alone', and whether well-established bands should be using such projects as pledgemusic, this has obviously worked for the mighty BFS. With promises of backstage passes, handwritten thank you cards, autographs, Skype sessions, and house concerts - all at a price of course, BFS launched the 'Lunch. Drunk. Love.' campaign. But the headlines of shameless self-promotion and money-making are obfuscating the true nature of this project. The band's intention was that fans would be involved in the album-making process, being with the band for the journey; revealing new songs, artwork and video shoots to get immediate feedback from those who pledged, with 5% of all pledges going to the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund.

It took ten days for BFS to reach their goal (not surprisingly they were halfway within 24 hours) and 'Lunch. Drunk. Love.', the band's twelfth album, was underway. And the 'inspiration' seems to have worked. Since the early 2000s and the brilliant Drunk Enough To Dance and A Hangover You Don't Deserve, BFS have been in something of a rut musically. Previous album Fishin' For Woos is the band going through the motions but without the sharp wit and pop punches - all the ingredients are there but the recipe is bland and uninteresting. Sorry For Partyin' is better, but horribly inconsistent, with wonderful songs mixed with flat fillers, while The Great Burrito Extortion Case is one of BFS's worst albums. So, what about 'Lunch. Drunk. Love.'? Does it live up to the hype, the pledges and the power of independent music-making?

As expected, 'Lunch. Drunk. Love.' is a blend of what BFS do best... Songs of personal friendships, love and relationships, break-ups, make-ups, drinking and fighting. As the Texan quartet of Jaret Reddick, Chris Burney, Erik Chandler and Gary Wiseman grow older, their music has become more reflective - even if some of it tries to hold onto the impetuous attitude of youth, with limited success. In recent albums, this balance hasn't worked but 'Lunch. Drunk. Love.' proves BFS can find it. Opener Critically Disdained is heightened self-criticism, with an acoustic start before Burney's guitar kicks in for an attention-grabbing introduction. Since We Broke Up is the early punk-pop anthem, deftly punchy and melodic, with Reddick recounting the aftermath, then building to an explosive vocal. To complete a great trio, the 80s soft-rock of Real is another highlight.

From The Rooftops is a wonderful departure from the formula - an open-hearted celebration of love with a stadium-esque gloss, but the huge surprise is Circle, the Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians cover from the magnificent Shooting Rubber Bands At The Stars album. Reddick and the band treat this with the upmost respect and the delivery is poignant and note-perfect, highlighting the beautiful bitter-sweet song-writing. Reddick even resists the temptation to mimic Brickell's oddly upbeat ending, instead bringing the song to an abrupt powerful end. Then back to the formula for the name-dropping Normal Chicks, rewinding the clock somewhat but with added social commentary. Reddick attempts to rhyme 'Scarlett Johansson' with 'Romancin'. Enough said.

Into the second half and 'Lunch. Drunk. Love.' struggles to maintain the momentum of the first but brings it together for a strong finish. I Am Waking Up Today owes much to Green Day's Minority, a blistering blast of shouty rock while Couple Of Days is middle-of-the-road and forgettable. In contrast, And I Think You Like Me Too is light-airy pop; comic storytelling with a perfect cheesy arrangement. Showing that BFS can switch between styles and moods in an instant, Envy brings back the rock but again, it adds nothing new to the party. One thing BFS do well is the big ballad and How Far This Can Go is a welcome addition, showing yet another side to the band, before Right About Now - a delicious slice of punk-pop. Closing song Kevin Weaver is another surprise, starting as a solo biographic performance from Reddick arranged as three parts in the form of three letters to the family, before the rest of the band join for the heavier ending.

'Lunch. Drunk. Love.' is a fan-fuelled return to form for Bowling For Soup. The band sound back to their best, as if the last ten years never happened. Providing the album as both clean and explicit is also respecting the fans who made the album happen (and in most cases, the clean versions work better - Right About Now is the noticeable exception - putting more emphasis on smart humour without the shock factor). While 'Lunch. Drunk. Love.' is not the best BFS album, it is far from the worst. The new approach (to the band) has given them a much needed lift and again the quartet sound energised, motivated and fun.

-- CS

Arcade Fire - Reflektor (Album Review 2013)

Sometimes even the coolest bands on the planet take risks. Canadian indie multi-instrumentalist sextet Arcade Fire already have an impressive award-winning trilogy of albums, taking the journey from death and family (Funeral), through dark oppression and doubt (Neon Bible), to tales of social angst and community (The Suburbs). The follow-up Reflektor continues this momentum. What began as a short collection of songs (believe it or not) has become a 75 minute double album of ambitious self-indulgent electronica-infused bombastic brilliance. Almost.

From the opening title track, it is clear that Reflektor is the ubiquitous 'new direction'. James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem) adds his skills as co-producer, and his vital presence is elsewhere, most evidently here. This is smooth indie-disco with Win Butler and Régine Chassagne sharing vocal duties (Chassagne in French and English), a wild juxtaposition of quiet verses and explosive chorus, with electronic flourishes building to a muddy mesh of sounds and vocals to the halfway point. The affect is startling with brass, guitars and ever-present 'Murphy' drums; then David Bowie appears on vocals for a cameo. Then the final few minutes, builds to an equally evocative climax. We Exist, while not as stylised as the title track, uses many of the same elements with added Butler intensity and drive.

The dark, mysterious Flashbulb Eyes echoes Primal Scream's Swastika Eyes, while the Rara infused Here Comes The Night Time glides into an explosive section featuring a plethora of sounds and rhythms, vocals and drums, before settling for a sedate ending. In contrast, Normal Person fuses piercing guitars with fuzzy bass and pounding drums, before an unexpected choral finale. This is Arcade Fire's statement of identity: 'If that's what's normal, I don't want to know', then 'I've never really ever met a normal person... like you...how do you do?'. Explosive and brilliant songwriting. The first moment of weakness arrives with You Already Know. Absurdly framed with ego-boosting Jonathan Ross samples, this is staple upbeat sweet and sour Arcade Fire. Likewise, Joan Of Arc stumbles into a well-intentioned but clumsy pop song, with more Chassagne and an odd, disjointed arrangement.

Part II brings the second part of Here Comes The Night Time, and a calmer feel to the album,  continuing with the enchanting pair of Awful Sound (Oh Eurydice) and It's Never Over (Oh Orpheus) - check your Greek mythology for more information. The former has a beguiling arrangement, melodic with gorgeous backing vocals, acoustic guitars and choral outro. The latter is built from harsher guitars and drums, with an electronic skeleton and punchy vocals, like a song in negative - soft, quiet choruses and big, brash verses. This is Arcade Fire at their most adventurous. And with 23 minutes to go, the final trio fails to disappoint. Porno is dark and menacing, tinged with stark cold keyboards and sharp strings. Butler delivers a superb vocal, all range and strength and the ending is a magnificent transformation from the song's beginnings. Afterlife is also impressive, with driving drums, obscure backing vocals and pulsing keyboards, with the vocals blending to create new instruments and sounds. And closer Supersymmetry belies its 11 minute running time as a subtle, soft, delicate ballad with a five minute ambient, barely audible, outro. Right at the end of the album this feels like a missed opportunity to fill the album with a massive stadium-rocking finale.

Reflektor isn't so much a risk, as a calculated and inspired move to embrace something different. And not one of those albums that is easy to 'get' immediately but its main strength is Arcade Fire managing to retain a unique, compelling identity within a musical shift - something many have achieved with considerable success, most notably U2 with Achtung Baby. While the songs here are quite different, and do not always deliver, the similarities and results are apparent. Naturally, reviews will describe Reflektor as brave and audacious (which will earn some empathy) or that it's just previous albums given the electronic treatment. It is neither. This is planned and focused, the sound of order within chaos, stylish and crafted. Reflektor is the sound of Arcade Fire remaining both cool and ambitious.

-- CS

Moby - Innocents (Album review)

It is business as usual for Moby on new album Innocents - a huge record featuring familiar rhythms and textures, guest vocalists and plenty of quality. The man is a tour-de-force musically and can never be underestimated. The wonderful Everything That Rises kicks off the album, like a cross between Extreme Ways and God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters - a cinematic master-class of composition, arrangement and control. The is followed by first single A Case For Shame, with beautiful piano, strings and stunning vocals from Cold Specks and Inyang Bassey. This reminds us of the majesty of Play and 18, Moby fusing contrasts and genres into his own string-laden electronic world. To complete the impressive opening trio, Almost Home with Damien Jurado is also wonderful, an elegant angelic vocal over (more) strings.

Innocents unfolds uneasily from here. Going Home is a piano-led instrumental (with, not surprisingly, added string arrangement). To the unbelievers, this seems like parts of a Moby album that he can churn out in his sleep - this may be true, but he is that good. The Perfect Life, with Wayne Coyne, and a choir that The Polyphonic Spree would be ashamed of, should work but the faltering vocal duet of Moby/Coyne is not the easiest listen. This gets in the way of the stern, relevant, social-political message of damaged youth, drugs and broken homes. Sublime guitar, and choral vocals is a much-needed organic break from the electronics, even if it gets carried away at the end.

At the centre of Innocents, The Last Day is the album highlight; the combination of samples and Skylar Grey's beautiful lyrics, with a gliding atmospheric musical landscape, is breathtaking. Inyang Bassey provides the sass for the funk-stomp of Don't Love Me, and Cold Specks is back for the completely different Tell Me. A late introduction of Mark Lanegan, and his sultry baritone on The Lonely Night is another welcome addition but it is Moby with the last words on Dogs, the intriguing nine-minute closer. He is in thoughtful, reflective mood. 'This is how we tried, this is where it died...This is how we cried, like the dogs left outside' may not read like the most inspiring lyrics but Moby makes it work. A song of two halves, the second drifts into stark electronic ambience...

Innocents is the closest to Play or 18 than anything else Moby has made in recent years. At well over an hour, the album has time to flow and build. The guests all play their part and don't disappoint with Damien Jurado and Mark Lanegan delivering in completely different ways, and Cold Specks and Inyang Bassey adding the exquisite female touch. They all help Moby lift his own talents to produce more brilliance. This is Moby's best album since 2009's Wait For Me; it is consistent, focused and plays to his strengths as one of the best composers of electronic music in he world today.

-- CS

Lanterns On The Lake - Until The Colours Run (Album Review)

Newcastle's Lanterns On The Lake follow up their impressive début Gracious Tide, Take Me Home with new album Until The Colours Run; a more robust record with big, bold guitars more reminiscent, with the every-present Hazel Wilde adding the vocals. The effect is not too far from Cocteau Twins backed by Explosions In The Sky (the band they supported in 2012).

Until The Colours Run excels when the band exploit this hardened sound with opener Elodie and The Buffalo Days the early highlights. The latter builds on a gliding vocal structure into a exquisite chorus and superb drums from Oliver Ketteringham as the guitars shimmer and lift into the final minute. The album's title track is equally brilliant, a faster pop song racing through three minutes before the final subtle ambience, while Another Tale From Another English Town provides the album's masterpiece, like a long lost track from The Cure's Disintegration. Beautiful strings and guitars blend with Wilde's shaped vocals.

But the songs falter when the melodies are absent. The Ghost That Sleeps In Me breaks the momentum of a good start - disjointed theatre with quiet scenes and a massive cinematic soundtrack and Picture Show drifts and ambles, going nowhere and lacking ideas. A surprise break of the formula is the wonderful Green And Gold, a fragile love-song exposing Wilde's voice and delicate lyricism. It is a captivating five minute centre-piece. And closer Our Cool Decay brings the album to an unfussy, sedate, yet underwhelming, end.

Lanterns On The Lake have a long way to go to make the perfect album and while Until The Colours Run is more adventurous than Gracious Tide, Take Me Home, it lacks the consistency and the grace of the début.

-- CS

Lucy Spraggan - Join The Club (Album Review)

X Factor has many things to answer for but occasionally it uncovers talent. Lucy Spraggan left the show in 2012 due to illness but is one of the only 'contestants' to have entered the competition as a songwriter. Having already released her début album Top Room At The Zoo, she performed three of her own songs: Mountains, Last Night and Tea And Toast during her 'journey' to the X Factor finals, and showed what she was made of. No surprise then that Spraggan's major-label début album shows brilliance; filled with honest song-writing, observations and stories. The effect is like a female-fronted The King Blues.

The overall feel of Join The Club is nothing new, but Spraggan is a unique storyteller in the post Lily Allen/Kate Nash (pre-2010) world, and her songs are a compelling blend of acoustic pop and vocally, hip-hop (this is not Chuck D or Dr. Dre). And it's great to see (and hear) an album from a 'reality television' export filled with self-penned, personal songs. Spraggan has taken work made as an independent musician and updated it for a more professional record. That said, one of the highlights of Join The Club: the poignant Tea And Toast is the only song which would have been better left 'as is' with just a voice and a guitar. In spite of the over-production, it still packs a punch with its sadness and quirky arrangement. In contrast, Mountains is now a stadium-esque, string-laden soaring masterpiece. So it can work.

Join The Club is filled with more joyous moments: opener Someone is an instant highlight, all upbeat chorus and hope-filled melody. This is another reworking of an earlier song that works well with more tempo. Lighthouse is hope in a hopeless world, and The Tourist is wonderful story-telling ('I'll be halfway round the world before you even know I'm gone') that builds to an open, unresolved, conclusion. Wait For Me could be a Mumford & Sons cover, complete with choral backing vocals, and Let Go is a listless love-song - an odd vocal arrangement mixes with stark piano and lyrical determination; personal and moving. The title track keeps things measured even through it's a metaphor too far ('life is just a gamble so just enjoy the game'). Closer, Paper Dreams is a fitting finale - inward-looking pop with electronic flourishes: 'Even if I look stupid, I'm pretty happy... If you're having fun, don't care what you look like...as long as you're smiling, you got the game right' is straight from the heart. The chaotic finish is fun but awkward.

Elsewhere, 91 shows that there is more to Spraggan's vocals than staccato delivery; a gorgeous chorus framed in an acoustic waltz. In A State tells the start-stop (bad pun) story of an America road-trip (even if LA and NYC aren't States...), and Last Night (Beer Fear) is either a misjudged celebration of drinking culture or a waning sign. It's hard to tell from the delivery, sounding like a song Alex Turner rejected ten years ago. You're Too Young is a real surprise - more spoken word than a song, delivered at speed through the verses and slowing for the choruses. This almost works but the contrast is hard to engage with - a brilliant idea, like Eminem's Stan.

Whether Lucy Spraggan would have made Join The Club without X Factor, only she knows. Either way, it is a talent showcased through a unique personality and superb songwriting. The platform created from Top Room At The Zoo and her exposure on a prime-time reality music show has produced the album she wanted; a hybrid of old ideas and emotions and new experiences. Serendipity realised and a talent enthused and energised.

-- CS

Haim - Days Are Gone (Album Review)

Three sisters from Los Angeles are keeping the spirit of Fleetwood Mac (circa 1987) alive (in a good way). Este, Danielle and Alana have pitched their band somewhere between late 80s soft rock and modern girl band vibes to create something unique for début album Days Are Gone. To capture the mood, Falling is the perfect opener, a wonderful structure combining pop and R&B with 'hand-clap' percussion, plenty of echo, and a funky chorus. The guitars halfway are cool sublime. Forever continues the great start, with more punchy vocals, and another cool chorus. It is clear why the band has earned the FM tag. Another early highlight is If I Could Change Your Mind - one of the best vocals on the album and excellent guitar work. The chorus is simply wonderful, sparkling and pure 80s. Don't Save Me is the other highlight and an excellent single; a breathtaking hook into a flowing chorus, with verses that glide and soar.

It's not all good news. The Wire sounds more like Debbie Gibson (remember her?) before the 'Broadway' years. That said, it is another beautifully constructed song. The title track, with falsetto backing vocals and over-production just about hits the mark but is more like a long forgotten All Saints album track; as more great guitars hold it all together. A strange departure into dark brooding R&B arrives with My Song 5 and what should be hard-hitting feels like a lame slap. Let Me Go isn't much better, but closer to the sound we would expect. And thankfully Days Are Gone doesn't lose its great start, as Running If You Call My Name is the (very) late highlight to finish.

Days Are Gone is an impressive début from a band with a huge future ahead of them. A refined sound could settle critics but the association with McVie and Nicks vocally and lyrically, and Fleetwood/Buckingham stylistically, is a huge positive rather than a corrosive influence. There is more individuality here than people realise. On the whole, a hugely enjoyable album.

-- CS

Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks (Album Review)

The ever-talented Trent Reznor looked set to close the doors on Nine Inch Nails in 2009 when the band's tour came to an end and he started work with How To Destroy Angels. A few much publicised award-winning film scores and three HTDA releases later and Reznor revealed that he had been working with Atticus Ross (with whom he created the aforementioned scores and the HTDA records) and long-term NIN producer Alan Moulder, on Hesitation Marks. What started as a few tracks and ideas has become one of the best albums Reznor has made under the name Nine Inch Nails.

It is the style and mood of Hesitation Marks that makes an initial impact. The songs are controlled and balanced, with very few explosions of anger or vitriolic emotion. Reznor, as the vocal centrepiece, never overwhelms with his voice; instead creating a calming influence over the electronic-industrial backing. Even on the early Copy Of A (featuring Lindsey Buckingham), the music builds, shifts and rises but feels much like a reworking of The Hand That Feeds from With Teeth, never uncontrolled or messy. Everything is direct and measured. The final verse packs a punch lyrically without the need to ram it down your throat. Came Back Haunted follows in a similar way, choosing tension and gritted teeth over screams of pain and catharsis. Even through the muddy guitars, the music builds and throws in multi-layered vocals, to create the illusion of maddening cries all shouting together - but then calms to a low, morose finale.

The usual themes are explored with a more modern twist, most notably the piercing Satellite - an oppressive tale of 'Big Brother' paranoia, gliding effortlessly through five minutes, data pulsing in the background. The flip-side to this is the more inward-looking Find My Way, this has Reznor barely whispering by the end. Another highlight is the wonderful Everything, a post-punk riot of guitars and drums packaged into a three-minute pop song. "I am home...I believe. I am home... I am free... always here...", Reznor sings. And the sparse, fragmented Various Methods Of Escape sounds like a re-worked HTDA piece, but builds to a fantastic guitar/drum combination and some of the best vocals on the album.

As expected, Hesitation Marks is by no means perfect. The spiky funk-infused All Time Low is an odd move and about three minutes too long. That said, the juxtaposition of styles breaks the otherwise sedate flow. Running is also disjointed and, although musically interesting, brings nothing new to the album. Then there is I Would For You, which sounds laboured and jaded - a shame as the guitar work and piano in the last minute are fantastic. Thankfully, the final songs are top draw. In Two is a glorious mix of old and new (with more great guitars from Buckingham) - again Reznor is powerful and punchy without losing control and focus, as a combination of complex percussion and empty-spaces provide the backdrop. And the ending is superb, crashing headlong into While I'm Still Here, the final ballad, beautifully crafted and arranged; treading a careful path and concluding with a perfectly odd brass section, and then into Black Noise to finish.

For the most part, Hesitation Marks is a mix of everything that has come before: the chaotic intensity of The Downward Spiral, the pop-tinged hooks of Pretty Hate Machine, the angst from With Teeth, the majesty of The Fragile and the sedate atmosphere of the glorious Ghosts. And the Social Network score has had a huge impact on how Reznor now constructs songs; how they move and evolve. The 'side-project' HTDA has been a positive influence but with Hesitation Marks, Trent Reznor has proved that his heart and soul is very much with Nine Inch Nails.

-- CS

Tired Pony - The Ghost Of The Mountain (Album Review)

Supergroups are nothing new - and in recent years something to approach with caution. Jack White and Josh Homme can make it work, and so it seems can Gary Lightbody. Tired Pony brings together talent from Snow Patrol (Lightbody and Iain Archer), Belle & Sebastian (Richard Colburn) and R.E.M. (Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey) and début album, The Place We Ran From, proves that it is a worthwhile and relevant project. Lightbody wanted to make a 'country' album, and this is definitely the feel and mood of the band's introduction but follow-up The Ghost Of The Mountain is something quite different.

Claims by some that The Ghost Of The Mountain is just another Snow Patrol record are obviously absurd. Lightbody is the ever-present front-man, and his voice is both distinctive and familiar, but it is the continued contribution from Archer, Colburn and Buck that move the group up from the obvious style of their beginnings into a more established sound. Now, Tired Pony has its own identity. That said, it is amazing how the presence of an ex-guitarist from a now disbanded group can bring so much of his past into the present. Peter Buck (and to an extent, McCaughey) breaths the spirit of R.E.M. into this album as much as Lightbody brings his vocals. The effect is wonderful.

From the delicate opener I Don't Want You As A Ghost, deftly blending cool vocals with sublime guitars, and the pop-styled brilliance of I'm Begging You Not To Go, to the hard-hitting stomp of Blood, The Ghost Of The Mountain impresses from the start. The latter recounts a struggle to keep a relationship going, expletives and all; superb, honest and heartfelt song-writing. The Creak In The Floorboards continues the form, a more straight-forward and hopeful love-song. 'You know what I'm looking for now... coz I sure don't', Lightbody croons. It is clear now that this is still Americana, but a lot closer to the sounds of the individual contributors. A gorgeous vocal brings the song to a  finish.

The best guitar-work on the album is the magnificent All Things All At Once - a dark, brooding country waltz ('I will love you better than him...', is the stirring refrain, mixed with wordless choral vocals. Great instrumentation frames Wreckage And Bone - more folk than country as Tired Pony return to their roots for 'Act II'. Lightbody excels delivering the sort of fractured melancholy vocal that Chris Martin can only dream of, and again, his song-craft shows why he won an Ivor Novello.

The Ghost Of The Mountain diversifies in the second half, with interesting results. The Beginning Of The End breaks the formula somewhat and is two songs mashed together with some odd arrangements, while Carve Our Names is a smooth ballad with Lightbody augmented by female tones. Ravens And Wolves is bombastic grandstanding, backed up with some excellent guitars, strings and cold piano, and Punishment is drum-driven sleek electro-pop. Definitely unexpected, but not a massive departure.

The icing on the cake is the beautiful title track; another gorgeous vocal arrangement, blending wordless choir with stark lyrics. Lightbody is in reflective, doubting mood and musically, this is the sound of a band who have been together for decades. Buck's guitar-work is (as always) incredible. To close, Your Way Is The Way Home is an understated finish with an emotive lyric within a perfect melody. It threatens to soar, stadium-bound, but stays firmly on the ground, Lightbody stepping aside to let Kim Popper bring the song and the album to a close.

The key to Tired Pony and The Ghost Of The Mountain is songwriting and commitment from all involved. You bring together talent and that is what you get, all controlled and focused with no egos to keep in check or dismiss. This may be Lightbody's dream but the band deliver at every turn - and, while not members of the band, Minnie Driver, Bronagh Gallagher and Kim Topper add some light vocal touches. The sound is very comfortable and established; often safe ground (no massive guitar solos or eight-minute sonic-string orchestras here) but this is exactly what everyone is good at - mature, accomplished songs, elegantly produced.

-- CS

The Polyphonic Spree - Yes, It's True (Album Review 2013)

The Polyphonic Spree, led by Tim DeLaughter, and now with a mere twenty musician line-up (including six-piece female choir), release their fifth album Yes, It's True. It's hard to believe they've only made four previous albums, if you count the hit-miss Christmas album of 2012. The band's working philosophy has always been, and will probably remain from now until the end of time, that 'more is less'. This is certainly the approach here, showing the best and the worst of a band who look and feel more like a cult movement; a subversive secret society, designed to inject irony-free happiness into an otherwise unhappy world.

Yes, It's True starts wonderfully. Cool opener You Don't Know Me is the perfect introduction before the two big songs Popular By Design, with its oddly robotic hypnotic chorus against the DeLaughter inner monologue verses, and the sparkling piano-pop of Hold Yourself Up, provide an instant and early album high-point. The wistful vocals of Carefully Try, with added horn section transforms halfway from Flaming Lips to Mercury Rev with increased sound and pace, before the piano ballad You're Golden, a love-song for the geek culture (it's not your Facebook 'Likes'...) becomes a heartfelt and warming tribute.

So far, so uplifting. Sadly, Yes, It's True falls flat in the centre. Heart Talk is bad Bowie. The start/stop Blurry Up The Lines is a confused mess, especially when it builds for the second half, and Let Them Be is a mix of clashing instrumentation. But the album picks up for a strong finish... Raise Your Head is solid, from drum opening build-up into a glorious symphony with a mix of ideas and sounds that (unlike the previous twelve minutes or so) works. What Would You Do? is easily the highlight of the second half - a massive, noisy, group therapy and Q&A session with DeLaughter at the chair. It quietens teasingly for a big riotous finale. And closer Battlefield, which could be clumsy and cluttered is, instead, a gorgeous and delicate piano ballad with horns to finish.

So Yes, It's True is almost a great Polyphonic Spree album; it has the spirit and the heart of a band that is united in a cause. The message from DeLaughter and crew is always positive and welcoming, even if the songs don't work. But that is what you get when 'more is the new less'.

-- CS

The Duckworth Lewis Method - Sticky Wickets

-->

The Duckworth Lewis Method, aka Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy) and Thomas Walsh (Pugwash), and named after the mathematical system for calculating a target cricket score after a match is disrupted - usually by the weather, return with a second album of cricket-themed songs. This time round, they have proved that this clever, insightful, project is more than just a novelty act for a select group of purists who understand cricket's unique and baffling 'language'.

Where the eponymous début was a tentative low-key introduction, Sticky Wickets is a triumphant celebration. The title track is deliciously tongue-in-cheek, before the attention-grabbing Boom Boom Afridi (a tribute to the Pakistan legend), to the Henry Blofeld infused irony of It's Just Not Cricket. 

The musical variety brings in influences from Steely Dan to ELO with some wonderful emotive moments. The Umpire is especially stirring, before the mid-tempo Third Man - beautifully summing up cricket's worst fielding position. Out In The Middle is equally good, before the superb electronic Line And Length, filled with unique and beguiling cricketing language.

Stephen Fry narrates the oddity Judd's Paradox and closer Nudging And Nurdling has a host of 'celebrities' repeating the humorous phrase throughout. Only The Laughing Cavaliers drags the album down late-on, back to the world of novelty. 

So The DLM are back with a well-judged concept album and a good balance between sporting cliché and genuine acute observations - one that cricket fans, and those with no interest whatsoever, will enjoy equally.

-- CS

Thea Gilmore - Regardless (Album Review 2013)

Thea Gilmore is one of our most prolific and underrated songwriters. After a brilliant run of albums, from début Burning Dorothy to breakthrough masterpiece Avalanche, Gilmore hasn't quite reached the same heights since. Recent studio albums Liejacker, the 'alternative' Christmas record: Strange Communion, and Murphy's Heart, have been mixed, while the 'original' covers of Loft Music, and audacious recording of Dylan's John Wesley Harding, are both superb. And in recent years, albeit too briefly, her Angels In The Abattoir project has produced some real gems, all unreleased and exclusive to dedicated fans. So album fourteen, Regardless, is Gilmore back a decade, to the days of folk/pop, sharp political and social statement and above all, a real sense of vibrant, energised, drive.


The mark is made with opener Something To Sing About, with spiky verses and punchy chorus, set to a driving guitar and string-filled backing. Gilmore stretches her vocal range with the slower This Is How You Find The Way, repeating the refrain 'it's a beautiful day'. Musically, this is much more industrial, with electronic flourishes and bouncy percussion. And the gorgeous title track, a moody mid-tempo waltz (something of a speciality), and easily Gilmore's finest vocal, is wonderful. This is matched only with the delicate love song, I Will Not Disappoint You. With just a hint of Everybody Hurts, this is a personal, open-hearted, ballad. In the first half, only the odd Spit And Shine doesn't quite fit - a 'Vampire Weekend' soundtrack muddies the dark, spiteful, venomous message.

In contrast, Start As You Mean To Go On is shameless 60s pop and the darker Love Came Looking For Me is just as direct, a perfect anti-love song. In between, Punctuation is an intriguing tale, like a heated discussion between angels and demons, gods and prophets - to create a brilliant intellectual interlude. The final three songs on Regardless do not disappoint. This Road and Let It Be Known are both suburb; political and honest, on the latter Gilmore sings 'Let it be known I have religion, though it was more a contact sport... I held the people I was given; prayed to the lessons that they taught' - possibly the best line she has written. After these, closer My Friend Goodbye is a downbeat finish - that said, the vocal arrangement is beautiful.

It is clear from Regardless that Thea Gilmore is in a good place, both personally and musically. She sounds equally at home on her own with a guitar or piano, or with a full band, but it appears that the 'big sound' is exactly what was needed to fuel these songs. There is great support, as always from Nigel Stonier. More consistent than recent albums and certainly more focused, Regardless is Thea Gilmore at her wonderful best.

-- CS

Thousand Lights - The E.P. review (2013)

 

Thousand Lights is a band from Southampton based around the gorgeous vocals of Emma Cummins and Harriet Lea-Banks, the guitar stylings of Gary 'amp destroyer' Holcombe and super-cool bassist Simon Kolstoe. Their music is Christian-themed, filled with delicious acoustic strings, percussion and vocals; driven by faith and belief - a true inspiration, washing through their clear, precise lyrics and music.

The début eponymous E.P. features five songs, opening with the wonderful Already Blessed, lead by Cummins, her vocals neatly placed between Natalie Merchant and Thea Gilmore, to deliver a superb vocal arrangement. Holcombe provides supreme acoustic guitar-work to create the flowing upbeat sound, complete with a few neat flourishes. The slower, sombre, more intense, Our Creator is equally good, bringing in Lea-Banks for backing vocals and a soaring chorus, the duo blending perfectly. And it is Harriet who takes the lead for Matthew 16, centred around the biblical text in which Jesus foretells his death and resurrection. "What price to pay for my soul, there'll be no angels, no glory, no truth... Take up your cross and follow him. We surrender..." is heartbreaking and beautiful songwriting. Your Light is another superb arrangement framed with Holcombe's shimmering guitar-work juxtaposed against the stern, serious vocal - a fascinating contrast. The dual vocals at the halfway point work brilliantly, adding to the intense atmosphere. The closer, Unfailing Love is the band at their most ambitious, with a raw emotional chorus and Cummins showing her power and range. Holcombe provides the final surprise - a sharp, crisp, guitar solo - a truly wonderful moment!

Faith is obviously important to Thousand Lights and a huge energy for their music and their songwriting. From humble live band to the heights of the recording studio, it has certainly been an inspiring journey and the results show what the band can be - a delicate touch of production to bring out their message, up to the next level and... beyond? Based on this 'teaser' E.P., a full album has to be in the wings, waiting to be lovingly crafted. And maybe guitarist Holcombe can show us more of his skills with a fifteen and half minute solo in the style of Hendrix or Gilmore. Anything is possible...

-- CS

Music Catch-up - Smith Westerns and Leagues

Now is the chance to catch-up on some new music from the last few months...

Chicago's Smith Westerns released their third album last month, Soft Will; a much more adventurous collection of shimmering sun-kissed pop songs than the band's previous albums with wonderful understated melodies, vocal harmonies and big guitars. They have stepped up to the next level in a promising and emerging career in fantastic style. 3am Spiritual is a downbeat self-referential opener with gorgeous choral vocals, echoes of Flaming Lips and swathes of guitars. Idol and Glossed provide the early pop-tinged mood before the stirring piano-led instrumental XXIII brings four and half minutes of class. The Brit-pop influences arrive with Fool Proof and the big 'ballad' White Oath, washed with smooth guitar work and  vocals from Cullen Omori. Vocally, Only Natural is triumphant, diving from low verses to high soaring chorus, while the guitars shine. Credit has to go to Chris Coady for production and maintaining a good balance between Smith Westerns' gritty 'garage' sound and this new polished sound - it's not as thick and oppressive as Beach House, for good reason. The second half of Soft Will is certainly more serious and reflective than the first, as Best Friend tugs the heartstrings, before the oddly pitched Cheer Up brings closer Varsity and a final highlight. Soft Will is the sound of Smith Westerns not so much growing up, but coming of age.

One from the start of the year that somehow slipped through...

The Pledge Music campaign is delivering some real gems (as well as less-interesting projects from more established bands trying to give 'fans' a chance to get their hands on exclusive material) and You Belong Here by Leagues yields another success. Comprising Thad Cockrell, Tyler Burkum and Jeremy Luito, the trio has added to their début EP and produced an album of punchy, upbeat pop songs. Opener Spotlight is a great introduction with Cockrell's post-funk vocals driving the song forward. The title track draws distinct similarities to Vampire Weekend before the wistful Haunted deftly blends stirring emotion with pop stylings and cool guitar work. The big highlight of the first half is wonderfully emotive Lost It All, with Cockrell providing an outstanding vocal range. This is mirrored in the second half by a completely different, yet equally engaging, sound, as the guitar/drum stomp of Magic...quickly followed by another instant hit: Mind Games with its delicious chorus. You Belong Here never capitalises on this momentum as the final duo are oddly downbeat - Pass My Way is sunny-day vocally-textured musing while Friendly Fire is a fragile piano/vocal ballad with Cockrell stretching the metaphor and his voice in equal measure. But ultimately You Belong Here is a good idea, helped by fans and for fans. Only they will know if it has met their expectations.

This Week - Editors and Palms

Editors' fourth album, and first after the departure of guitarist Chris Urbanowicz, is a definite shift towards a more commercial, accessible sound, while trying to keep the band's identity. They tried this with previous album In This Light and On This Evening, working with producer Flood, ultimately ending in a mixed, slightly confused, and flat, collection of songs. But with The Weight Of Your Love, they sound more energised, and singer Tom Smith is magnificent throughout, even providing a delicious range on big emotional ballad What Is This Thing Called Love. Prior to this, The Weight is a great scene-setting, self-referential opener (Smith declaring ironically that he will try not to talk about death, against a deliberately moody backdrop) but it is the instant highlight A Ton Of Love stealing the show - a solid pop/rock anthem with an attention-grabbing chorus. Honesty comes a close second; exquisitely arranged, before a perfect blend of vocals and strings on the wonderful Nothing. The last third of The Weight Of Your Love loses the early momentum with the awkward politically-aware Hyena and the listless Two Hearted Spider but closers The Phone Book and Bird Of Prey provide a spirited, if downbeat, finale. Editors still have far to go to reach great heights but The Weight Of Your Love is moving them in the right direction - led by Smith's baritone, some superb arrangements and excellent song writing.

When Isis split in 2010, a new band was always going to rise from the ashes - the band were just too good for the ex-members to disappear without trace. Bassist Caxide, drummer Harris and guitar/keyboard maestro Meyer teamed up with Deftones lead singer Chino Moreno to form Palms - an unlikely but intriguing combination. The eponymous album is six songs of 'Isis'-like trademark post-rock with Moreno adding his voice 'as another instrument'. The two halves meet in the middle, rather than sounding like an 'old' band with a 'new' singer, to create something different and unique. Granted, this is more Isis than Deftones, in terms of mood and atmosphere. The ten-minute centrepiece Mission Sunset drifts from delicate sound-scape to huge emotional epic within the first four minutes, the guitars and drums magnificent throughout. Shifts of tempo and texture create several songs in one into the second half before a swathe of crashing drums and guitars bring Moreno back for more pained vocals. This leads into the album high point, the near seven-minute Shortwave Radio, filled with big haunting guitars, supreme bass, and Moreno's best vocal performance. Plenty of echo in the cleaner moments compliment the chaotic swamp when the band collide, all with excellent production. Opener Future Warrior is a compelling quiet/loud introduction to the project with a great vocal centre while Patagonia is more controlled and ethereal. And the final duo provide the pleasant Tropics followed by the elegantly crafted Antarctic Handshake building through nine minutes from psychedelic ambience through crashing guitars to a fuzzy electronic close. Palms is a wonderful collaboration that has produced a rich and textured album of depth and hidden complexity. Hopefully, it won't be a once only side-project.

This Week - Sigur Rós, Queens Of The Stone Age and Filter

Iceland's finest Sigur Rós are usually predictable and safe. You know what to expect from their music: the soaring instrumentation, string arrangements, stirring piano, big guitars and angelic floating vocals all add to the glorious mix. But this time, a year after the release of the subtle beauty of Valtari, the departure of founding member Kjartan Sveinsson, and nearly ten years on from the masterpiece Takk, Sigur Rós have gone in a new direction. Kveikur is positively industrial, harsh and magnificently raw, like Takk in a blender. The core of the album is focused around the wonderful voice of Jónsi Birgisson, which is the big difference from the piano-led Takk and the controlled chaos of Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust. Opening song Brennisteinn sets the mood perfectly, with a backdrop of grinding machinery and melodic vocals, it introduces the new brutal landscape. Hrafntinna arrives like something from the Game Of Thrones soundtrack before Ísjaki, the album's big highlight and a supreme combination of Jónsi and the band driven forward by Orri Páll Dýrason's drums. After this build-up, Kveikur never reaches the same heights but Stormur is another emotive piece with Jónsi's unique voice shining through. The dark title track makes way for the lighter Rafstraumur and the simple closer Var brings this strange, intriguing adventure to an end. This is the sound of Sigur Rós shaking off the past to make a raw, fractured, yet emotional record.

Josh Homme is a genius but life as a genius in Queens Of The Stone Age is not easy. Homme was hospitalised in 2010 and had to 'fire' drummer Joey Castillo about a third of the way through recording new album, ...Like Clockwork, to bring in Dave Grohl. Former bassist Nick Oliveri provides backing vocals on a couple of tracks but has not officially rejoined the band, and Homme has brought in guests Mark Lanegan, Trent Reznor, Alex Turner, Jake Shears and Elton John (yes, really). In spite of this turmoil and a host of side-projects (most notably the brilliant Them Crooked Vultures), Queens Of The Stone Age remains a solid, coherent and formidable musical force. That said, ...Like Clockwork feels like a band fighting themselves and the future; but ultimately it's rewarding. Darkness is everywhere, even in its lighter, more positive moments and the approach is much more interesting than the listless Era Vulgaris. As always Troy Van Leeuwen is excellent, providing supreme guitar work, while Grohl and the much maligned Castillo add solid percussion. This is evident from attention-grabbing prog-rock opener Keep Your Eyes Peeled, followed by the equally impressive I Sat By The Ocean. The Vampyre Of Time And Memory is something of a departure but Homme's subtle vocals and more incredible guitar work create an uneasy yet satisfying atmosphere. If I Had A Tail, Fairweather Friends and Smooth Sailing are instant highlights while Kalopsia is verging on Pink Floyd, until the last minute and half brings the noise. The title track closes the album in style, with Homme's delicate falsetto and piano making way for startling guitars and drums(this time from Jon Theodore (ex-Mars Volta). ...Like Clockwork is order from chaos and the best Queens Of The Stone Age album since Songs For The Deaf.

Filter, lead by Richard Patrick - brother of actor Robert and former touring guitarist in Nine Inch Nails, has not had a typical life as a band. With many more ex-members than current personal, and a very new present line-up, Filter are a different band than that of the mid to late nineties. Short Bus and Title Of Record remained their best work but new album The Sun Comes Out Tonight takes the approach of 2010's The Trouble With Angels and provides some genuinely excellent results. The songs fall into two styles - venomous vitriol (opener We Hate It When You Get What You Want, What Do You Say and This Finger's For You) and more reflective acoustic style (the wonderful Surprise, the elegant pop of First You Break It and the sweet It's My Time). The title track is something in between while Take That Knife Out Of My Back deftly switches from soft to hard - but Filter remain a schizophrenic outfit, able to produce full-on alt-metal and light, airy pop with equal and effortless ease. Closer It's Just You is the album's most coherent and unique moments, as it seems to transcend this juxtaposition. The Sun Comes Out Tonight is Filter at their best and this is a tremendous, and worthwhile, comeback.