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albums - current and forthcoming releases...       page 29

 September  2003
[Earlier reviews]

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Amateur Night in the Big Top
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Burgess (Tim)
Chemical Brothers
Fiel Garvie
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
Jayhawks
Jet
Kings of Leon
M83
Meeting Places
Soledad Brothers
Super Furry Animals
Wildhearts

 BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB Take Them On, On Your Own (Virgin)

 

It’s not often that the new album by a critically acclaimed rock band reminds you of a tin of quick-drying waterproof wood stain. Truly though, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are the Ronseal of rock; they do exactly what it says on the tin. Using their storming sophomore record as our guide, let’s assess the evidence.

BLACK. No question about it really. The clothes, the hair, the riffs; nothing here does anything to dispel the equation that BRMC = JAMC from the forefront of your mind. This, of course, is a great thing because the Mary Chain rocked. And so did Primal Scream around the time of their eponymous second album so get that black leather on now! It’s black in mood throughout though as well, and never more so than on the album’s two outpourings of human emotion, Shade Of Blue and And I’m Aching.

REBEL. Okay, so it’s sometimes without a cause but they certainly look and sound the part. Despite what some sections of the music press may have told you, US Government is not a scathing political broadside aimed at bringing down Bush but it is another stomping good tune in an album full of ‘em. Similarly, the sneering, snarling Generation is little more than a plea not to be lumped into whatever scene is fashionable this week. Probably the most rebellious thing here is that the monumental MBV-style title track is hidden before the album.

MOTORCYCLE. Apart from the black leather thing that I seem curiously fixated on, Rise Or Fall is set to a thunderous noise like a hundred Harleys revving around your ears whilst Ha Ha High Babe achieves the incredibly rare distinction of being an interesting one-line song courtesy of the dirtiest, fuzziest riffing on the album.

CLUB. Aside from the gang mentality and image, the opening three tracks would be absolute killers at a club. People are so used to hearing Oasis ripping off other bands that no one seems to have noticed that current single Stop owes much of its swagger to the Mancs’ early tour de force, Columbia. A title like Six Barrel Shotgun leaves you under no illusions as to what it should sound like and it doesn’t disappoint and We’re All In Love pretty much sums up how any listener ought to feel about this record.

‘Take Them On, On Your Own’ should have been a difficult second album given what they had to follow and the surrounding hype. Instead they’ve upped the ante from ‘BRMC’, with Nick Jago’s ferocious drumming proving that his stamina isn’t solely reserved for awards speeches and the guitars turned unashamedly up to 11. Like creosoting your shed with the aforementioned leading brand, it was a piece of piss.

Reviewed by James S 
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  JET Get Born (East West)

 

Chris Cester was recently quoted as saying: “we’re the only rock band in this new rock thing that actually have songs in more than one shade”.  Too right, mate: you’ve got songs in the shade of AC/DC, the Stooges, the Stones, the Beatles and the Who!  But, surprisingly, they make it all work.  They pick up the thundering rock moves and take-no-shit-from-your-lady lyrics direct from AC/DC on Last Chance and Cold Hard Bitch.  They churn out the beating rhythms of the Stones on Get What You Need and make a surprisingly tender, anguished, Angie-like sound on Come Around Again (helped by the warm tones of ex-Stones and Beatles keyboard player Billy Preston).  The super-punchy classic rock of Take It Or Leave It wouldn’t have existed without Chuck Berry. 

So far so straightforwardly dynamic, air-punching rock’n’roll.  The single Are You Gonna Be My Girl is a perfect composite of all they’re good at: melodic Beatles-like opening (is it coincidence that the girl in the song has a “‘Get Back’ stare”?), before tumbling into Stones-like riffery and topped by an Iggy Pop vocal.   Best song is Rollover DJ which isn’t as blatant as their famous ‘Disco Sucks’ t-shirt message but it’s still a sly dig at superstar DJs: “I know that you think you’re a star/ a pill-popping jukebox is all you are”. 

What’s surprising about Jet and so good about the album is that it has a lot more depth than the band themselves reveal in interviews.  Lazy Gun has glam rock guitar effects but a strange downbeat edge that’s complex and well worth hearing.  Then you get to the ballads: Move On is a countryish slowie, with standard rock lyrics but Look What You’ve Done is a stratospheric, anthemic big noise.  It sounds like a Noel Gallagher number with serious Beatles twitches.  It suggests that Jet are looking to take Oasis’ place with their mix of rockers and singalong-with-yer-lighters tunes.  With the Rolling Stones approaching retirement, garage rock becoming a turgid rehash of old riffs, and Oasis struggling to be relevant anymore, this album suggests that the big hole might just be filled like a band called Jet.  Roll on Knebworth! 

Reviewed by Ged M
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  AMATEUR NIGHT IN THE BIG TOP Amateur Night In The Big Top (Offworld Sounds)

 

I thought I had maybe seen the last of Shaun Ryder following his apearance on a documentary about Factory Records and the Hacienda. As has been well-documented elsewhere, the legend had taken on the appearance of Darth Vader following his unmasking at the end of Return Of The Jedi.Not a pretty sight, and further confirmation that Ryder’s reckless lifestyle had finally caught up with him and he was feeling the payback big time.

The shows not over till the fat bloke sings, however, or perhaps in this case, drawls. Recorded in Australia with cousin and Grand Central Station Design guy Pat Carroll and former Cabaret Voltaire member Stephen Mallinder, Ryder is back, with a project quite unlike Happy Mondays or Black Grape.

Over sprawling ambient dubby grooves, Shaun, never much of a singer in the classical sense anyway, sounds fucked, like an old smack victim recounting half remembered stories. Yet somehow, this isn’t half as bad as it sounds. Sure its dark, but also funny, sometimes even poignant, particularly when he sings of ice cream and good times with members of the Ramones in Long Legs (Parts 1, 2, 3). In Clowns Ryder tells us how he doesn’t want to get beaten to death by clowns. Fair enough I say.

Perhaps the surest sign of Ryder’s descent from Northern Soul Brother to Shane MacGowan like state happens at the end of the first track, The Story, in which Shaun sings the chorus from 24 Hour Party People. This time it sounds sarcastic, not at all like the call-to-arms of the Mondays song.

Like watching a car crash, one can’t help but be enthralled and upset at the same time while listening to Amateur Night In The Big Top, yet if you are able to keep in mind that you’re not listening to a Happy Mondays or Black Grape album, you will find yourself rewarded. And really, we should be thankful the guy is still with us at all.

Reviewed by Rob B
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  TIM BURGESS I Believe (PIAS Recordings)

 

From the cowbells and saxophone in the first few seconds of I Believe In The Spirit, you know you ain’t hearing a Charlatans record.  He’s moved as far musically as he has geographically from his indie, Cheshire roots; his gushy sleeve credits include Al Green, John Lennon, Gram Parsons, Dexys, and several dozen others.  On the opening track he sings “I believe in the West Coast…I believe in California soul” and the album has that Hollywood slickness (it’s co-authored and produced by Linus of Hollywood, who’s also worked with Puff Daddy and Lil Kim) lubricating several decades of disparate pop influences. The production rustles them up and herds them together into a generic sound.  Among the more direct influences, there’s the Elvis Costello jerky-pop of Held In Straps, the Dylanisms of Be My Baby, the country-rock Years Ago and the brassy Northern Soul dance-pop of Only A Boy that touches down (and gets up again for a couple of backflips) somewhere between the Style Council and Haircut 100.   And someone tell me that the super-size-it-with-soul Say Yes isn’t ‘Loco In Acapulco’!

There are too many E, as well as M, O and R, numbers on here for your typical indie kid but it’s a Mojo reader’s influence-spotting delight.  The clear production reveals the breathtaking romantic naivety of the lyrics (“if I were only a boy again/ I would build a new shelter for all the kids to live in”) as well as his lovesick balladry (on too many songs to list here).  I shouldn’t like Oh My Corazon with its anthemic US drivetime beat and naïve lyrics but that big-lipped mouth just seems to suck you in.  I want to be cynical but…

There is so much here to pull holes in: the album’s retro, slick, naïve, more mainstream than Beck and yet Tim Burgess is impossible to dislike.  You take a look at his happy face in the middle of the sleeve booklet and you believe that he believes in the music and that his relentless optimism is genuine.  Though it’s more likely to feature on the end of year lists of Q Magazine than NME, there are many more worse things in the mainstream.  And it’s good to see, at least, that his fire hasn’t gone out. 

Reviewed by Ged M
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  M83 Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts (Labels)

 

I like this reviewing lark. Now and then, an album comes along that opens up a whole new zone to you....another band to welcome...another chance to lose yourself for an hour...and when I say lose, I mean totally-without-a-compass. The french duo M83 are definitely of that order, and this, their second album, is a real consumer of emotions.

Our induction is a gentle affair with 'Birds', a swirl of fleeting synth strings, sampled chirps and tweets amongst a Brave New World computerised mantra. We're then treated to a ethereal cinematic soundtrack with 'Unrecorded', reminiscent of the late lamented icelandic group, Mum. It goes on...'In Church' and 'Noise', both big songs, one with organ rich melodies, the other a Harold Budd/Cocteau Twins Moon of the Melodies delight.

Pushing on, and confirming my seriously above cloud mood music suspicions, are an excellent collection of electronic post rock experiences....I say experiences over songs as each one paints a very vivid picture. 'On a White Lake, Near a Green Mountain' takes you to said place...America, with its intense build up of interference ridden broadcasts, and whoozy guitars, cuts dead half way through, then rises, phoenix like, to continue the rift...it speaks volumes about its chosen subject. I could go on...additional tracks like 'Cyborg', 'Gone' and 'Beauties Can Die' add to the pot with their own intense flavours, leading to one delicious stew.

Its a very truthful album, each carefully titled and very emotional, but not one that leaves you feeling empty...quite the opposite, I found it totally uplifting as opposed to other Post Rock killers like Silver Mount Zion and Godspeed. Come on...prove you have a soul and experience this album.

Reviewed by Adam M
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  CHEMICAL BROTHERS Singles 1993-2003 (Virgin)
 

Not a complete singles collection as the title implies but instead a selection:  Song to the Siren, Chemical Beats and Leave Home (from 95’s Exit Planet Dust); Setting Sun, Block Rockin’ Beats and Private Psychedelic Reel (from 97’s Dig Your Own Hole); Hey Boy Hey Girl, Let Forever Be and Out of Control (from 99’s Surrender); Star Guitar and The Test (from 2002’s Come with Us) and two newies Get Yourself High and The Golden Path. (A cynic might observe that these could be an accountant’s choice taken, as they are, more or less equally from all albums + two tracks for this release). 

As tunes these are pretty varied and faultless.  Presented in sequential order they show a progression from early the cut’n’match approach - Song to the Siren sounded like a song waiting to start, full of breaks but not seeming to launch into a song as I knew it.  Therein lay the challenge to my indie sensibilities of wanting verse/chorus/verse structure.  And somehow the Brothers worked out to cross back and forth over the electronica/indie boundary, combining big beat drums and rhythms with rock guitars, funk bass, weird noises to shake your head to, and bringing in rock/indie vocals from the likes of Bernard Sumner (Out of Control) and Noel Gallagher  (the mighty Setting Sun and the paler follow up Let Forever Be).  Dance with a rock attitude, probably best describes it.  With the new millennium, however, the music has seemed to take a verve to more streamlined ambient electronica, with the linear soundscape of Star Guitar (an excellent video – could be worth checking the DVD release connected with this) taking you on train journey of sorts.   And what of the new tracks?  Get Yourself High is a funky, rappy affair, whilst The Golden Path, is an unchanging apparently slight rhythm that nudges itself softly at the back of the brain as Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne adds his sore tonsils to a tale of the afterlife.  Not an immediate tune or obvious single choice but then was Song to the Siren? A gentle grower.   

And as with any selection there are those who will argue for the inclusion of the ignored – Elektrobank, It Started in Afrika or Music:Response for example.  Though why the excellent Loops of Fury - with its mighty beats, build ups and whooshes of volume - is relegated to the second CD of the limited edition is downright criminal. (Many fond memories of eliminating contenders in Wipeout 2097 with it on, er, loop from the game's soundtrack). Nevertheless, whether you’re a fan or a newbie there’s little arguing that the goods on display are pretty damn tasty.  Even without Loops of Fury….. grrrrrr.  Now where’s my copy of Wipeout…

Reviewed by Kev O 
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  SUPER FURRY ANIMALS Phantom Power (Columbia)

 

Coming, for them, a mammoth two years since their last album, Gruff and company return with their sixth studio album. Repeating their usual cycle, Phantom Power sees them choosing a more downbeat and natural approach than the previous album, preferring to rely on the melodies rather than studio trickery of Rings Around The World.

This of course, means that the techno elements in songs such as Mountain People and No Sympathy are largely absent, and its glam rock and West Coast pop all the way. The problem is, so far into their career, I’m not sure if relying simply on the melodies really works this time. In attempting to make another Radiator (this reviewers favourite album), SFA sound a little uninspired, something I could rarely have accused them of in the past. Some of the lyrics here are great, the usual social commentary (particularly the anti-US Liberty Belle and The Piccolo Snare) mixed with amusing lines like “I’m a minger/You’re a minger too/So come on minger/I want to ming with you”. One of the better songs here Venus And Serena, is a poignant tale of a boy and his love for his two pet turtles.

The two Father Father instrumentals make for beautiful, moving folk music, akin to the title track from Nick Drake’s classic Bryter Layter, and Huw’s Sex, War And Robots is a slow-burner that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Dark Side Of The Moon. But then there’s tracks like Bleed Forever, which sound like an uninspired rehash of past glories.

Maybe I’m wrong. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time. Maybe Phantom Power is a grower. But on the first few listens it appears that the innovative, eclectic Welsh eccentrics may have finally ran out of steam.

Reviewed by Rob B
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  SOLEDAD BROTHERS Voice of Treason (Loog)

 

The Soledad Brothers are linked to Detroit’s garage aristocracy, sharing, respectively, a bed and a flat with Meg and Jack White.  They’re friends with John Sinclair and they carry on the MC5’s tradition of making anti-establishment statements in their name and the black and white sleeve photo.  The latter, with their mouths gagged by the American flag, is a grand political gesture as well as a hell of an image.  So credibility sticks to them like shit to bear fur.  Integrity and authenticity is something they obviously prize (the album was recorded at Toe Rag Studios), so they’re respectful of their influences. 

That’s both a plus and a minus.  The Soledad Brothers are blues-literate, so, in sound as well as in attitude to influences, they’re similar to the Stones and Yardbirds in the early 60s.  The Elucidator is a boastful blues in best John Lee Hooker fashion.  Cage That Tiger and On Time are clear sounding, stomping blues with almost a glam-rock sheen.  Ain’t It Funny has a Doors-sounding organ and grinding rhythm. Only Flower in My Bed takes another fork, a slower, Memphis soul type number with anguished vocals. 

But their faithfulness is also a straightjacket.  Where Jack White infuses his blues with a layer of irony, the Brothers play it straight.  But we’ve gained irony where we used to have damnation so those blues staples - the sense of relief and release, religion and sex - just aren’t there to give the music the same charge.  Depending on context, a traditional song like Lay Down This World can either be a song of resignation and surrender to a higher power or just an exciting, repetitious lyric meaning as much as any of the other song on the album.  Maybe their own Sight Unseen is a better signifier: “these are the times that try belief” is a true enough blues for today.   That song is a standout, with its dirty blues rumble and dark lyrics reminiscent of the Kills before it bursts into Yardbirds-inflected life.  Loreli too is another knockout: slower, more personal and, by deploying its blues tags more sparingly, all the better for it.  

So it’s not exactly original.  But it does stand against the prevailing culture in the best (or worst) Motor City tradition.  Its view might be retrospective but when that view also looks back to ideas like freedom of expression and the right to dissent, then it’s another point in their favour. 

Reviewed by Ged M
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  FIEL GARVIE Leave Me Out Of This (Foundling)

 

The first thing that really hits you is the voice. A breathy blend of English and some deeply mangled vowels, it’s located somewhere between Bjork, Isobel from Drugstore and Drusilla from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. So what exotic world city do these curious vocals call home? Madrid maybe? Prague perhaps? No, Norwich. Nevermind.

With a name as dodgy as some of her intonation, Anne Reekie leads the similarly dubiously-monikered Fiel Garvie in some oddly compelling musical directions though. It’s a safe bet to say that there won’t be many albums released this year with such reverberating echoes of the Cocteau Twins and Slowdive amongst its many audible influences. ‘Leave Me Out Of This’ is book-ended by B-Rock and Flake, which along with Reeling As You Come Around Again, are the sound of Sigur Ros relocated to a longboat on the Norfolk Broads. The excellent Got A Reason, Doortime and Old Friend are a meeting of minds between Lush before they wrote the hits and My Bloody Valentine when they weren’t writing any, otherwise known as their whole career. They even doff their caps respectfully in the direction of The Delgados on the likes of Caught On and He Goes, She Goes.

The lyrics may be largely superfluous under the elegantly swirling noise they layer around them but that didn’t stop any of the other aforementioned bands from recording some absolutely magical music over the last dozen or so years. As long as they’re happy with the same limited level of success as their predecessors, it shouldn’t stop Fiel Garvie either.

Reviewed by James S
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  GORKY’S ZYGOTIC MYNCI Sleep/Holiday (Sanctuary)

 

There was a story a few years ago that Elvis was a Welshman; apparently, his ancestors emigrated from the Preseli Mountains to Tennessee.  If that were true, then maybe they took the roots of country music with them.  Because even though Elvis embellished country and kicked off rock'n'roll in the New World, Gorky's seem to play an old world, purer and more naïve version of it.  There’s something in their music that’s familiar and yet novel, with its beautiful melodies, sensitive and romantic lyrics, and sound that’s folky, pastoral, a touch psychedelic and a little bit country.

It kicks off with the sweetly melodic Waking For Winter, remarkable for the way that Megan’s violin plays off Euros’ voice as the song chugs along in its lovely piano-led way.  Mow The Lawn is a manic rock number on the lines of Johnny Boy, with lashings of fiddle and playful lyrics like “I can’t see my tootsies when I’m doing the Watusi”.  The South of France is folky, quiet and solemn, with lots of delicate picking while Country is exactly that, quick, warm and fiddly.  Happiness is an Alex Chilton meets Elton John ballad, warm and optimistic, rising to something majestic and heart-filling.  Every Gorky’s album has a knock-me-down classic and Eyes of Green, Green, Green is this album’s chief contender.  It’s melodic, happy and romantic, on which guitar, bass and violin all chip in equally to create something supremely catchy. 

The disappointing thing about Gorky’s albums is that they aren’t consistently gripping.  This one is better than most but still has its longeurs.  The highlights are in the first two thirds; the final four or five tracks are of a piece: delicate, slow, quiet, epic, anti-climactic; Pretty As A Bee is ten minutes of almost-psychedelia, the drone-pop containing elements of church music.   The title suggests that there are two elements to the album; I suspect people will enjoy the first part more.  There’s plenty there to cement the Gorky’s reputation but their great album is still to come. 

Reviewed by Ged M
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  KINGS OF LEON  Youth And Young Manhood (Hand Me Down)

 

Damm it, for once, the massive hype is almost justified. The first time I heard anything by the Kings Of Leon was when they supported The Music in Bridlington in May. It was one of the first occasions in which I didn’t spend the whole of a support band slot waiting for the headliners to get on stage. Watching the Followhill clan doing their stuff was like seeing Ten Years After performing I’m Going Home at the original Woodstock. No frills, no nonsense good old rock ‘n’ roll played by youthful hippies.

And so I waited for this album eagerly. But then the hype started. Fuck, every time the ENEMY start hyping a band up it ruins things. It was a long time before I got the Strokes album, I liked what I heard but seeing them in the music rags all the time was off-putting, and Elephant, good as it is, simply isn’t worth all the constant press it recieves. Youth And Young Manhood, on those first all-important listens, passes the test.

Red Morning Light sets the pace for the next 45 minutes well. Okay, it steals the riff of Pink Floyd’s Interstellar Overdrive, and lets us know we’re hardly dealing with the most original band on the planet here. All the tracks here revolve around sex and love in one way or another, as all good debut rock albums should. But it’s the energy that really wins you over on Youth And Young Manhood, especially when Caleb abandons his lazy drawl and screams like a banshee in Joe’s Head.

To put it bluntly, I defy anyone to come up with a better summer album for 2003.

Reviewed by Rob B
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  JAYHAWKS Rainy Day Music (Lost Highway)

 

Filled with heartbreakingly beautiful and honest songs that often evoke the sounds of such early 70's country rock pioneers like The Flying Burrito Brothers and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, "Rainy Day Music" could well prove to be the definitive Jayhawks album.

Louris' songwriting and distinct vocals are the centrepiece of this disc. The dreamy acoustic guitar strums of the album opener "Stumblin' through the dark" will immediately draw you in. "Tailspin's" urgency is only offset by a Byrdsian delicateness that evokes Dylans 'My Back Pages' (the version with his all star tribute band), while "Save it for a rainy day" is what modern FM radio should sound like. Tim O'Reagans contributions "Tampa to Tulsa" (a piece that is reminiscent of early Poco) and "Don't let the world get in your way" (complete with eclectic swirls of Bowie) have a different feel to Louris' songs yet find a way of blending in with the rest of the album.

Bringing in the offspring of some songwriting icons that the Jayhawks obviously listened to before entering into the studio and calling in the Eagles Bernie Leadon for good measure, it is quite clear what the bands vision was for this record, making "Rainy Day Music" all the more enjoyable
to listen to.

Reviewed by Daniel S  
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  THE WILDHEARTS The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed! (Gut)


The Wildhearts' status as one of Britain's premier rock bands has been a closely guarded secret since their emergence in the early 90s. Though Ginger and co have not been lazy in finding those responsible, namely the media and the record company, the sad fact is that it is the band who hold the most responsibility for preventing a true commercial breakthrough.

This is a shame, because at their height, The Wildhearts produced some of the finest rock music produced on these shores. Now, after the sonic meltdown of "Endless, Nameless", and the ensuing 6 years in the wilderness, "The Wildhearts must be destroyed" is a bold attempt to prove that they can still hack it, that they can still beat off nu-metal with melody and leather.

For the most part, it so nearly succeeds. "Top of the World" and the Beatle-y "Only Love" show that Ginger's ear for melody has not deserted him, and "Vanilla Radio"'s chant of "where's my Elvis?" will strike a chord with many a disillusioned rock fan. But aficionados of "Earth Vs the Wildhearts" and "PHUQ" would not be unjustified in wondering "where did all the riffs go?". The metallic side of their music has all but disappeared, leaving behind a sound bereft of the edginess that originally stood the band apart from their contemporaries.

As a result, when they attempt aggression, the conviction goes, and speedy songs like "Get your groove on" (Metallica's "Battery" riff with no noticeable chorus) contain none of the genuine sense of danger that once surrounded their records. Also, whilst no one would want to begrudge a man
his domestic bliss, one can't help thinking that now loved-up Ginger's best relationship songs were those written out of cynicism and bitterness ("Loveshit", "My baby is a headfuck", etc).

Sincerity is always the hardest emotion to express in art, and as a result this album - albeit an excellent melodic rock record - is simply not as good as The Wildhearts can be.

Reviewed by Martin H 
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  THE MEETING PLACES  Find Yourself Along the Way  (Words On Music)

 

Two years old this month, LA quartet The Meeting Places may fall under the heading ‘shoegazing/dreampop’ (which in lesser hands often means pillow-gazing, snooze-pop), evoking the soundscapes of Ride, J&MC and Slowdive; and while a spin of this debut effort doesn’t exactly find them dragging the genre kicking and screaming into the third millennium, they do update and transcend that early 90s’ sound with something more uplifting, veering in a more indie-pop direction. Of course there’s the trademark hazy, shimmering guitar sound and laidback vocals, but whereas other singers can border on the catatonic, Chase Harris sounds at least 75% awake; one song is even called Wide Awake

Opener Freeze Our Stares starts with a sustained guitar line that sounds like a fire alarm going off next door before sliding effortlessly into a slow, magical dreampop groove. On Our Own is a sunny uptempo number that sparkles like the dew on a summer’s morn with some rockier, choppy guitar kicking in near the end while the following See Through You is a poignant acoustic affair with beautiful, understated piano from Aaron Espinoza (who also recorded and mixed the album). Now I Know You Could Never be the One and Wide Awake see repetitive jangly rhythm guitar riffs dominant in the verses, Scott McDonald’s guitar creating ambient, chiming washes in the background.

Standout track is the epic Spiritualized-like Take to the Sun. Starting slow with distant vocals and ambient space-rock guitar, it creeps up on you, suddenly hitting a heavier groove, bass and drums, up to now underpinning everything simply but effectively, getting a workout, the song fading out with fuzzy guitar noodling. It coulda been a dramatic album closer but instead the Places give us a more conventional, mellow coda in Turned Over. Still, an evocative and auspicious debut.    

Reviewed by Graham S  
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