It’s been a while since I updated this blog. As a sort of reparation I decided to review more than the usual amount of albums. I will be talking about six very different albums, from the neo Latin folk of Meridian Brothers to the melancholic world-weariness of The Antlers.
In terms of news much has happened since my last post. Post-punk revivalists Interpol announced that their fifth album El Pintor will be released on the 9th of September of this year. Personally I’m very excited about this. It’s hard to know whether the band have gotten over the loss of their former bass player Carlos Dengler, something that I found disturbed their usual brilliance on their last, self-titled album. Despite this I’m feeling pretty optimistic that they can come back with something almost as good as Turn on the Bright Lights.
Canadian Electronic musician Grimes previewed three new songs at The Governor’s Ball in New York last weekend. There are videos of two of the songs on Youtube and, apart from making me extremely jealous of everyone who was in the crowd, they also made me pretty excited about the fact that there will certainly be some new music from Grimes within the year. ‘Go’ initially intended for label-mate Rihanna sounded quite unlike Grimes’ usual output with a slower pace and stronger beats and also a kind of Skrillex-esque sound. The other song, which I couldn’t identify but which is either called ‘David’ or ‘Sleepwalking’ is about as close as Grimes could get to a ballad, kind of combining the upbeat tone of ‘Visions’ and the slow tempo of ‘Halfaxa’.
Another pretty exciting development is the announcement of Caribou’s sixth album, Our Love. Dan Snaith’s most successful project is back after four years and will have a new album out on October 7th. He has posted a song, Can’t do Without You, from the album on Soundcloud. It begins with a looping vocal sample in the style of Joy Orbison that exudes mesmerising atmospherics as it rises and falls. The song picks up speed about a minute in with anticipation remaining unsated throughout creating a very ‘ecstatic’ feel before the music drops and all that is left a calm, peaceful grounding. Not nearly as exotic as some of the songs on previous album ‘Swim’ but certainly drenched in the same kind of euphoria.
The Libertines started the summer with plans to play Hyde Park, stating money as their main motivation. They have now announced that they will be working on a new album and will also be touring Europe. Either this will end disastrously or be a raging success, there will certainly be no middle-ground as far as the band’s fans are concerned.
Finally, last year’s Mercury Prize winner James Blake has also announced that he is about halfway through making his third album. The follow-up to Overgrown will, of course, be highly anticipated and with Kanye West and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon said to be making appearances it may propel the quiet musician squarely into the spotlight.
Meridian Brothers – Salvadora Robot:
Colombian band Meridian Brothers are not really what you would expect them to be, or what I expected them to be anyway. I was anticipating something a little more like Gogol Bordello; a folksy, but updated, version of their native musical heritage. They’re actually much more than this. I think I would compare them to a Kraftwerkian-Folk band. I know that doesn’t really make sense. How can electronic music and folk music go together? Listen to the album and you may agree.
By folk music I mean their native music- Latin American rather than Joan Baez or Paul Simon. There is definitely an undercurrent of really energetic, but also tense, staccato beats in the majority of their songs. It sometimes feels like the whole is going to fall apart because you can’t believe someone could maintain the jittering consistency that they practice. It sometimes does, but obviously this is for musical effect. In reference to the synthesizers used throughout it may feel like the band are trying to communicate some idea of modernisation, but that may be a very narrow and obvious view to take, considering their nationality. I can’t really talk about the lyrics because they are in Spanish but the vocals are fairly idiosyncratic. Eblis Alvarez alternates between a baritone spoken-word approach and sharp, unexpected yells. The title track on the album has him laughing, the resonance accentuated so as to effect a certain kind of creepiness, while he grunts and moans between lyrics on other parts of the album.
I feel like the band could be a sort of musical interpretation or illustration of Roberto Belano’s Savage Detectives, searching for surreal interpretations of their landscape, unwilling to conform to an idealised melody or template. They give a good account of themselves and the experimental scene in Bogota, inviting further listening to their overly energetic rhythms that often go beyond the danceable, almost blurring into the one note.
A good album if you’re looking for something a little bit different, or if Folk/Electronic is the hybrid genre you’ve been waiting for.
Strand of Oaks – Heal:
I feel a pretty significant connection to this album. I think anyone who has been consumed by ambition, to the detriment of their personal and social lives, becoming fairly isolated in the process, will also be quite sympathetic to some of the things discussed throughout. The name itself is fairly indicative. There is the sense that each of the songs represents a personal epiphany which goes towards an overall realisation from which a healing process can begin.
Strand of Oaks is Philadelphian Timothy Showalter’s project. The sound is a new departure from his previous folksy efforts. He drafted in Dinosaur Jr. guitarist J. Mascis whose noisy solos represent a fairly stormy reflection on mistakes and diversions that Showalter presumably made in the course of his life. It’s fairly certain that most of what is said centre’s around the breakdown of Showalter’s marriage as he toured extensively. ‘Woke Up to the Light’ is both regret at his past and a newfound knowledge of the important things in life. He does not, however, expect to resume or assume a new personality or life-path immediately, instead he asks for time to convalesce, to return to the person he once was. Mirage Year is also quite indicative of the relationship breakdown. He talks about how his love changed, with the music sounding reflective and sad, somewhat similar to Bruce Springsteen’s The River, before exploding into a sprawling and distortionate guitar solo that seems to provide some kind of relief. A lot of the guitar solos seem quite angry, like Showalter is trying to tear away the memory of his perceived stupidity in order to face the present. At the same time he is quite acquiescent and ready to look into the future with these mistakes on his mind, guiding him rather than disturbing him. This takes strength, but the honesty with which he has written his songs also takes a lot of strength. He admits his selfishness on For Me while also facing into the end of his relationship on Heal, admitting what he has lost and looking to find peace with this new situation.
There are also references to drug and drink problems. He discusses this excess on Heal as well. JM is about Jason Molina of Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co. who died from alcoholism. On this song he talks about his anger and how he wanted to escape as he seemed to be dreaming of some place other than where he was. This shows a newfound appreciation for living in itself, that life cannot be sought but must be found within.
Basically this is a fantastic album through and through. It is permeated by a Classic Rock sound with guitars that sound like Sonic Youth mixed with Neil Young. The lyrics resonate and are palpably honest. Brilliant.
First Aid Kit – Stay Gold:
Stay Gold is the Swedish folk duo’s third album, after 2010’s The Big Black & Blue and 2012’s The Lion’s Roar. Produced by Mike Mogis, of Bright Eyes, it is fantastically edited with vocals wisely put at the forefront of most songs.
The Soderberg sisters have stated that it is their most personal album to date as they talk about leaving home, the unknown quality of the future and dissipating relationships. The thing about these subjects is that they have been discussed innumerable times, especially by folk musicians. Waitress Song is an ode to a simple life which could have actually been written by Mogis’ bandmate Conor Oberst. It is hard to gain an emotional attachment to a band who are content with lyrics that are, frankly, clichés. This could have been combatted by some anecdotal material or indecipherable references, metaphors etc. but they have resigned themselves to rehashing statements so as to seem profound, easily moved or just observant. The progression of the music is also quite typical, almost predictable, without being overly enjoyable. From a band with such sparse instrumentals something unexpected or new would have been better, mostly so that they could avoid easy categorisation or comparison. This isn’t the case, however. They sound very much like a hybrid of Bright Eyes and Rilo Kiley, with the vocal abilities of EmmyLou Harris thrown into the mix. Whether it was intentional on their part or whether they were being guided by subconscious forces, aware of the outline of their favourite songs, it is hard to tell. Hopefully it is the latter, something that could be shed as they begin to truly find their voice and their tone. I feel like this album is comparable to Bjork’s Debut. Unlike that album, however, there is no sense of an epiphany or sudden realisation. Their longing for escape feels like it has been lifelong, their wanderlust always something that was itching at the surface waiting to get out.
I’m not dismissing the whole album, though. The themes can be relative for people who have not come into contact with escape, emotional turmoil etc. The Bell put me in mind of Nick Drake’s Bryter Layter, a sort of pastorale sound arising, maybe produced by the use of a recorder or something of that timbre. There is also heavy emphasis place on the role of the string family, especially violins. This gives many of the songs a very natural feeling while also contributing to the emotional effect of discovery and continuing exultation. Basically the music, production and vocals are all brilliant and pristine, it is the originality, or lack thereof that is definitely something that First Aid Kit have to work on.
Circulatory System – Mosaics within Mosaics:
There are 31 fucking tracks on this album!!
That was my first reaction to Mosaics within Mosaics. True to its name the songs are miniscule pastiches that come together to make a whole, with the average length of each song coming to somewhere around the 1:45 mark.
Sound-wise this album is very intelligent. It is easy to look beyond the kind of eerie and disturbing sounds that appear on Mosaics within Mosaics, dismissing them as unlistenable or too idiosyncratic. This album plays on the noises that cause a reaction while also maintaining a certain amount of melody at bottom. Music, I guess, is not always about a clean, beautiful phrase but also about exploring our aural sensitivities.
To say that the album is psychedelic is an understatement. It inhabits a world unto its own, surreal and often inexplicable. The shortness of the tracks and the nuanced overall sound reminds me of the everyday oddities of Donald Barthelme or Richard Brautigan. I’m also inclined to make the obvious comparison with Animal Collective, but, with vocals that sound like they’ve been recorded underwater and frequent dark deformations of beloved pop devices, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the two bands have similar priorities.
There is plenty on this album, outside of the surrealist intention to cause a reaction that can be pretty beautiful while also maintaining a very distinct and novel atmosphere. It’s Love has high-pitched strings that border on a Sitar-like sound with vague recreations of the same noise somewhere in the air above the immediate guitar-line, sounding like expressions of the same kind of joy somewhere in the vicinity. The Mosaics, of which there are eight, provide calming interludes where the music, unaccompanied by vocals, seems to return to a basic level, something like a convalescence. When I looked back on these instrumentals it occurred to me that the human voice, in the form of a song, can be much more disturbing than some of the tones put forth in some of the other songs on the album.
This album provided me with some pretty interesting ideas but, like any intensely intellectual album, it is unlikely that I’ll listen to it again very soon. It’s certainly worth a listen though.
The Antlers – Familiars:
There is something very jazzy about The Antlers. There are times when their music could be comparable with Tom Waits. They rely on trumpets a lot on this album, something that you would think could clash with the electronic and synthesized effects that underlay most of their songs. It is only in hearing the result that an appreciation can be gained, that the dialectic seems to melt together, probably because of the bands musical genius.
Familiars is a very delicate kind of album, vocally and musically. Peter Silberman’s voice seems to reside constantly on the precipice, inches from cracking or fading away. The music can seem quite withheld, unwilling to give some kind of soaring chorus, preferring to leave that to Silberman’s vocals. It’s almost like the music sets the scene, the surroundings, in the same way as a film score, but doesn’t presume to intrude nor contribute to the characters emotional expression. Doppelganger displays this pretty well. I got the feeling that it was something like an alternate score for Blade Runner, that kind of hardboiled detective story within a modernized or futuristic setting. It’s nostalgic in this sense, recalling memories, or perhaps associations. On Palace, there is an idea of a freezing landscape as the synthesizers sound like crystals hanging in the air, with Silberman’s vocals contained within a microcosm of steaming breath. Director sounds like the inside of a head, a stream of consciousness so utterly surrounded that nothing else could possibly inhabit the same space as the music. If this was the intention it is utterly genius because the loneliness that pervades is really very palpable, possibly putting forth the point, with musical evidence, of individuality and solitude. Antlers also seem pretty intent upon leading in and out of their songs with as much honesty as possible. Songs start slowly and pick up pace and substance as they go, while ending with very volatile and jagged notes, like a series of loose ends.
This album, despite the use of synthesizers, has a very natural feeling. At no point did I feel like an emotion was being forced on me, as can be the case with certain pop songs. It is very relaxed and self-assured with a certain inherent personality that is pretty recognisable.
Phox – Phox:
The debut album from Wisconsin natives Phox is at times upbeat and summery and at others reflective and introspective.
Singer Monica Martin’s voice is the focal point around which the instrumentals are directed. She seems to vocalise what the sounds cannot, creating a harmony on the level of a sort of blooming atmosphere or constant genesis. She oozes a kind of soul with plenty of depth. I was reminded of Leslie Feist when listening to this album, because of the distinct combination between instrumentals and vocals, but Martin’s voice seems more inclined to improvisation, even though she seems to sing with complete ease, kind of like a communicative stream-of-consciousness.
Phox find a good balance between very bright, breezy and upbeat songs and darker, unravelling, lyrically driven music. Laura is completely at ease with itself. There are times when Martin seems to be singing into a vacuum, as if performing a soliloquy, but there is also quite a bit of sympathy in the song, with the two tones combining and dividing at different times. Shrinking Violets is all about a building emotion, about working oneself up to a peak. It is gratifying Pop-music in its essence. Satyr & The Faun seems to build tension around the chorus and as Martin sings “I have to run” we can hear her voice recede into the background as the music overwhelms her, giving the sense that she is moving away from the listener. There is a pretty lengthy instrumental aside at the end of Raspberry Seed which, though it is a repetition of the same phrase over and over, is actually very riveting. It feels like Phox have captured an intricate and resonant group of notes that are indicative of something very basically human.
Overall this is a great album. The first few songs are light and breezy, while the latter half of the album strays into a more substantially cerebral emotional landscape. There are also some pretty cryptic lyrics, especially on the first song Calico Man, which may or may not be an ironic look at love, and Evil, which, despite its dark, vengeful lyrics, is, again, very poppy and energetic. Great listening, more than the average pop band.
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