Reviews
February 2012
Still not there, but here's hoping ....
There were a lot of new albums to wade through in February, but not a lot that really grabbed us. After January getting off to a promising start, we were hoping for better. Still, there have been some interesting moments, so give these a listen. You could do worse. Much, much worse ...
Field Music - Plumb
Memphis Industries
Released: 13th February 2012
I always thought the spirit of Roy Wood hung heavily over David and Peter Brewis, the brothers at the heart of Field Music. Though the hirsute composer wrote three-minute pop songs of untouchable quality throughout the sixties and early seventies, when it came to making albums he believed it was payback time and felt free to record exactly what he wanted. In consequence the Move and later Wizzard albums bore little resemblance to the sublime singles that had made the bands’ names: they were bizarre concotions of sound, a cobbling together of random musical interludes with a crazy variety of instruments thrown into the mix for good measure. Today, this unfettered approach is very much echoed by Sunderland’s Field Music who for seven years now have trod a lonely furrow, producing four intriguing, idiosyncratic albums while refusing to bow to commercial or media pressures. Plumb is the band’s first offering since 2010’s double Field Music (Measure), which remarkably stole into the lower reaches of the charts, and once again it is a record that owes little to modern trends or tastes, a melding of ideas and musical styles that are painstakingly pieced into one remarkable whole. Disappointingly for some, the band do not head further down the path they first trod with (Measure) which was certainly far heavier than anything they had done before; Plumb is lighter in tone than its predecessor, though by no means less complex. Beginning orchestrally as it embarks on its intricate journey, we are confronted with piano, strings, brass, bubble noises, and a capella as well as the more conventional guitars. There are hints of everything from the Move to Queen, with ‘Who’ll Pay The Bills?’ and others sounding remarkably like a post-punk Sparks. When all is said and done, despite the meandering, this is a pop album with a refined ear for melody and an attention for detail that goes beyond all common decency. It demands serious listening, a trait that will carry it away from the casual listener, but such wilful determination to walk your own path is something that can only be applauded loudly. Involved, and when the band proclaim that “eloquence is overrated” in ‘(I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing’, you know they are lying.
Sleigh Bells - Reign Of Terror
Columbia
Released: 20th February 2012
It may be creeping cynicism allied to age, but half the time I listen to a new record I find myself sitting with a smile on my face rather than hurling myself around the room lost in its glory. The second album from Brooklyn duo Sleigh Bells, following on from 2010’s Treats, has me torn between my first instinct of casting it aside as a comic book irrelevance or beating back my doubts to consider whether this really is the future of rock n roll. It’s just that it opens with a crashing guitar playing out to mass applause which evokes memories of Chaotic Dischord’s Live In New York, and throughout the ghost of Sigue Sigue Sputnik nags at your mind. Is this one idea taken too far in a garish display of style over substance? And was it recorded half a mile down the road to nowhere? In truth Reign of Terror should have been released in a brightly coloured box with free bubble gum rather than housed in a sleeve featuring blood spattered plimsolls; it’s just not as tough as it seems to think it is despite every track being aimed as a punch: huge, mental backbeats booming over heavy guitars and whizzing keyboards with the perfect C86 voice of Alexis Krauss dreamily cutting through the mayhem as if a nuclear war wouldn’t knock a hair out of place. But there’s a but. When this album does work, it works very nicely and you begin to ponder whether Sleigh Bells are, in fact, a new Curve, meshing together disparate musical styles in a gorgeously dark blend and looking fucking great at the same time. ‘End Of The Line’ is simply lovely and one of a handful of tracks here that offer vague echoes of the Cocteau Twins and sound like the rest of the album grown up and out of school. The multi-tracked vocals work nicely, especially when countered by backing harmonies that shouldn’t really be as good as they are, and you get the impression there is much more on offer than you first thought. ‘Road To Hell’ is another high, the vocals rebounding off each other to a galley slave beat and an incessant, chugging guitar, while ‘You Lost Me’ glides and slides along until it is given a splendid guitar enema at the end. This is a band at a crossroads, with one way leading to mocking oblivion and the other offering the opportunity to explore new horizons of beauty, power and grace. We shall see.
50 Foot Wave - With Love From The Men's Room
Released: 13th February 2012
50 Foot Wave is the ‘other’ band of Throwing Muses frontwoman Kristin Hersh, which in fact consists of two-thirds of Throwing Muses, Bernard Georges continuing with his bass duties while Rob Ahlers takes over from drummer Dave Narcizo. Rawer and more abrasive than recent Muses efforts, 50 Foot Wave produce an explosion of sound, familiar through Hersh’s unmistakeable vocals, but somehow sounding clean and bracing, like gulping in the mountain air. Not that it’s simple stuff; the usual time signature changes abound, the drums rattle like machine guns, songs collide into themselves, and Hersh hurls out her lyrics in a beautifully attractive pharyngitic growl. It’s a glorious, unencumbered noise that somehow hangs together and leaves you desperate for more. Five tracks in under fourteen minutes, five rushes of adrenaline with ‘Gray’ offering the biggest hit, a monster of a song: fast and messy with some splendid guitar screeching and a lovely right-left stereo conclusion. Simply uplifting. With these recordings entirely funded through subscriptions from her fans, Hersh encourages all listeners to share the music by burning free copies for friends, adding, “What matters most to us is that people hear, connect with, and pass on this band’s music.” Make sure you do hear this; it’s important stuff and if you have never caught this band, there’s a hole in your life. The EP is now on general release, so why not buy a copy from www.kristinhersh.com and help 50 Foot Wave go on and on?
Top photo 50 Foot Wave, www.kristinhersh.com
January 2012 Reviews March 2012 Reviews
Please 'like' Isolation on Facebook.