According to their page on last.fm, people don't seem to really like the debut album from iLiKETRAiNS. This comes as a surprise to me, because while 'Elegies to Lessons Learnt' doesn't do anything new or shocking, it certainly takes the sound they've established already and makes a cohesive and solid record. There's plenty of history in the tracks, for geeks like me. In addition to 'Spencer Perceval' the album has 'Remnants of an Army', set in 19th century Afghanistan, a song about the Salem Witch trials, and other songs about renowned fakers Donald Crowhurst and John Stonehurst.
There's more to them that just an afternoon's worth of Wikipedia-ing, though. There are a lot of shorter songs, which is new for the band, and they usually succeed to condense their widescreen sounds into more accessible form. There's still the drama, the grandiosity, the icily detached vocals, but it comes off as more focused than before. Noisy, beautiful, profound... but enough about me. The album is pretty great too.
[download iLiKETRAiNS - Death of an Idealist] [pre order album UK/US]
The voice of reason
You were the rope around my neck
No strangers to writing songs of epic, historical import and bombast (yes, both those things), Leeds geniuses iLiKETRAiNS follow last year's excellent 'Progress/Reform' EP with a new single, out this week in the UK. It's called 'Spencer Perceval', after the only British Prime Minister to ever be assassinated. It's about ten minutes long, huge, and sung from the perspective of the assassin, John Bellingham. On the flipside is the song 'I Am Murdered', Perceval's response to Bellingham. Hypothetically. It's slower and more mournful, which I suppose makes sense. Best lyric: "I've kept the French at bay in Portugal and Spain / As our King went insane"
As dark as a power outage in the middle of the forest, these two songs make their debut album, due later this year on Beggars, even better-looking than before.
The band helpfully fill you in with obituaries for both men. And check out the video for 'Spencer Perceval' below.
[download iLiKETRAiNS - I Am Murdered]
