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The Chemistry Experiment
The Melancholy Death Of...
Fortuna Pop
Article
written by James S
Jun 15, 2005.
The annals of music history are littered with bands who took too bloody long to record their second albums (The Stone Roses, Elastica and, erm, the Stereo MCs spring immediately to mind) but The Chemistry Experiment have gone one better. Six years since their first single and five since I saw them impress at an all-dayer in Sheffield, the lazy buggers have finally come up with this, their debut album.
So has it been worth the wait? Well, it contains the best track of the year so that’s an immediate ’yes’. Back in January, You’re The Prettiest Thing towered head and shoulders over an excellent compilation I reviewed, and five months down the line it hasn’t lost any of its lustre. I used the words ’stunning’, ’swooning’ and ’glorious’ then and they still barely do it justice. Shame the daft sods haven’t worked out how to play it live yet.
I also used the words ‘Lloyd Cole’ and there’s no getting away from the similarities inherent in singer Steven J Kirk’s rich sonorous voice. Throw in a bit of The The’s Matt Johnson and a good helping of Jarvis Cocker and you’re somewhere close to Kirk’s deep timbre.
There are a couple of pieces of Pulp fiction here; We Were Never Wrong has drums that quicken in a heartbeat and a romantically anguished cry of “I want you back, I want you now” whilst Thoughts On Gravity sees them playing Something Changed at 33rpm in error, right up to the brilliant moment where Kirk stops, lights a cigarette, inhales slowly and then presses the keyboard button marked ‘big fuck-off cinematic strings’.
The rest of the album is played decidedly low and slow. Smooth, sensual opener Starlite Ballroom glides along on a wave of restrained trumpet whilst Good Morning gently winds its way through the back catalogue of fellow Nottingham natives Tindersticks. The tone and mood changes only slightly with the squelchy What Are We Good For, which ends up bizarrely resembling Prince’s When Doves Cry in places.
Whilst it may not live up to the heights of You’re The Prettiest Thing, the rest of ‘The Melancholy Death Of…’ has much to savour. Christ knows how long it’ll take for them to follow it up, mind.
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