Posts on here are once again few and far between, as you may have noticed. This is not - entirely - as a result of the pure and unbridled contempt in which I hold all my readers, but because I'm studying for the Bar Exam, which I'm taking at the end of July. If I pass it, I'll get to chuck an "esquire" after my name and charge everyone hundreds of dollars for the privilege of talking to me. So, as you can imagine, I want to get it right on the first crack.
That said, there is plenty of new music out there worthy of your attention. Today, I wanted to write a little about two albums that recently were released in the UK, which I am lazily lumping together because the bands are from the same country, have both been written about favourably on this site before, and frankly, have a similar sound to one another. Though both albums are accomplished and deserve their own attention, and though music is not a competition, I'm going to pit them against one another for no reason other than my own personal convenience.
In the red corner, My Latest Novel, with their follow up to 2006's 'Wolves', a previous fave here. For the new one, 'Deaths and Entrances', the band has stuck with the formula which worked so well the last time out - massive arrangements, huge strings, a million things going on, layered, harmonised vocals and, for want of a better term, sweeping grandeur. There's less musical variety on offer than was on 'Wolves', and as a result, it can sound a bit samey at first, but I've played the album a few times now, and it definitely seeps in. There's much to admire but some changes in pace would definitely have been welcome, especially in the second half. I'm thinking specifically of the playfulness on songs like 'The Job Mr Kurtz Did' or 'The Reputation of Ross Francis' from the first album - where they kept it small.
The tremendous opening track, 'All in All in All is All' can be downloaded for free here. Do that. Also, see if you can't hear some Arcade Fire in 'I Declare a Ceasefire'. In a good way.
Edinburgh's Broken Records, meanwhile, also have a new album, with the equally dramatic title 'Until the Earth Begins to Part'. I wrote about their EP more than a year ago, and now they've followed through with the album, delivered under the hype and burden of being called "the Scottish Arcade Fire" by people who really should know better. Broken Records have the temerity to name a song 'If Eilert Loveborg Wrote a Song, It Would Sound Like This', and yet the song itself is not absolute pretentious dogshit. The album is conspicuously uneven, though - while 'A Good Reason' still bounds along like a demented gypsy wedding, songs like the title track seem to be BR on autopilot. Start quietly, and then gradually build to majesty. They do the trick well, but they do it repeatedly. They do the same on 'A Promise' and 'Wolves', the latter a song apparently and confusingly named after My Latest Novel's debut album. Crazy. The potential is clear here, but a little more ambition would have gone a long way.
[My Latest Novel official / myspace / buy 'Deaths and Entrances']
[Broken Records official / myspace / buy 'Until the Earth Begins to Part']
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Best 'Finally, they've made an album I like!' album: Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
I've never really dug B&S. Some of their songs were ok, some were really good, but every time I stuck on one of their records, it was so monochromatic and apologetic that I'd have to listen to some Spice Girls and eat some beef just to restore balance. 'Dear Catastrophe Waitress' was a step away from that, with more of a pop edge, but it didn't sound right. 'The Life Pursuit' sounds right.
Easily my most played album of the first half of the year, I still love sticking it on. The bass part in the middle of 'Sukie in the Graveyard' is chunky enough to support the weight of small children. The trifecta of breezy pop perfection that comprises tracks 2, 3 and 4, made my morning drives to work way more enjoyable. The last song is sad and pretty and about a weird Tube station in north London which used to be closed all the time. Truth be told, enjoying 'Pursuit' so much made me dig up the older stuff again, but only 'If You're Feeling Sinister' ever gets any replays (and even there, it's the live album). So, kudos to Stuart and the gang for bringing me round to the twee-est gang in town.
But it wasn't quite good enough to win...
Best Scottish album of the year: My Latest Novel - Wolves
What a debut! You know how, when hot air rises, cold air rushes in to replace it? To fill the vacuum, so to speak? Let's assume the delgados were hot air. They broke up, and my life had a "gorgeous Glasgow band to melt into" shaped vacuum. But fear not! Here, taking the form of a cool breeze, are My Latest Novel! What a clunky and not-quite-working analogy.
There's a lot to love on this album. The conversational, upbeat 'The Job Mr Kurtz Done', which steers far away from its eponymous hero's craziness. Majesterial single 'Sister Sneaker, Sister Soul', which is up there for me in terms of impact with 'Black Dollar Bills'. The song 'When We Were Wolves' has about six lyrics but about six-hundred excitements (New unit of measurement). Only the instrumental track isn't too great. Best track? That leads us nicely to...
Best second half of a song: My Latest Novel - Wrongfully, I Rested
Look, nothing against the first half. It's certainly not bad at all. The pace builds steadily and it gets pretty intense. But then everything cuts out, to a few hits of the xylophone, and then the violin starts again... From the 2.23 mark, this is a whole new song, completely gorgeous and once the new vocal melody begins, with "la-la-las", it's just silk.
[download Belle and Sebastian - Sukie in the Graveyard]
[download My Latest Novel - Wrongfully, I Rested]
