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| Track list: 1. Hustle 2. It Breaks 3. Don't Look Down Or Back 4. The Roadside 5. October 6. Sashimi 7. With Whiskey 8. By Dusk They Were In The City 9. These Winds 10. Santiago 11. Weekend Away Running time: 46 minutes Released: 2010 |
I have listened to this disc a lot. Tunng became a firm favourite of mine with Good Arrows, which I picked up after hearing Sam Genders in a radio discussion and liking the cut of his jib. And Then We Saw Land was the first Tunng album after Genders left (going on to The Accidental and later Diagrams) and signalled a little bit of a change in direction but largely retained the likeable parts.
The album opens with a sonic warp, picked up by keys, then dropped (or rather faded back) in favour of a hooky guitar riff, to which rhythm is added. Hustle is a summer song, so light, bright and fun, foot tappingly so. It is pretty repetitive now I listen again and somewhere near the end gets a rattle that overpowers, but otherwise it is a strong little number that sets a tone nicely.
Catchy little tunes are what this era of Tunng is about. Gone/reduced are some of the more eccentric samples of Genders' era, in their place a structured framework to catch you and then keep you smiling. There are breaks in the pattern (there would have to be for it to work) but they really just emphasise the format.
Guitars are the main hook, but the patterning applies to the background sounds, percussion and so on too, as well as the vocal. There is some good use of harmony and contrast. Personally I think it is a really tough call between this and Good Arrows as to which is better (I still lean to the earlier one). Incidentally, Don't Look Down or Back is available as a free download here; it is pretty representative, but not my favourite: that is to come. The Roadside opens with staccato picking that just gets me tapping along so quickly that I am immersed before the other layers join in. I am noticing the echo effect on the vocal for the first time (consciously at least) now though, which just goes to show you can generally find something new even in favourites if you actually pay attention.
I used to think that the album went downhill from this point - shot its bolt too soon then faded out. There is an element of that, but it is premature yet. October is a neat tune; the harmony between the male and female voices is great, the way they blend in together whilst maintaining very distinct tones. It is a mellow track, too - nothing brash, nothing too catchy; a nice interlude before the much hookier Sashimi. Electrics make more of an obvious show in this one; no bad thing, but it makes it sound a lot more stark, cleansing the aural palate by sweeping away any lingering expectation of muted tones.
Whiskey not whisky, eh? I had not noticed the preference for Irish over Scotch previously; no idea whether it was intentional or the most natural way of spelling it for them. There is an odd moment in With Whiskey where it goes all A-Ha on us, lyrically - invoking Take On Me in the chorus, before finishing up and getting to the awesome instrumental that is By Dusk They Were In the City. This tune I adore... tuneful, loopy base with pauses and interjections before a build to a self-gratifying guitar solo - the sort of thing I am not generally a fan of - which is so well worked in to the overall progression of the track that it does not feel so... abusive. I think it is the continuation of the main structure around it that gives it that freedom as it sparks off the loops then drops out to allow the song to close. To be honest I did not really feel this time through as much as I have others - and particularly when I saw it live, but it remains my favourite track on the album.
These Winds strips everything back, largely a cappela but with a little percussion it is a complete tone change and feels longer than its sub-2 minute length. This is the point that I lose a little of my interest in the album with the track having less to hook me. Santiago continues this trend not because it lacks the hooks, but because I find the ones it has less sonically aesthetic. Hand claps and electronics predominate and these are just less compelling than the layered keys, guitars and percussion of earlier tracks. Weekend Away is not a great closer either. I love the way the chorus works but the verses and bridges are less compelling. Harmonies again are great, but the musicality of the arrangement is lacking for a large part of the track. When it swells up and you get more of the traditional elements, the track is stronger (they are natural crescendos in the piece too); pity they had to fall away again in the way they do. There is a secret track on the end of it, but thankfully it's only a few seconds after Weekend Away comes to a close so dead air is not an issue. There is not a lot to the hidden song and really I think we would have been better without it.
So the last quarter of the disc is a little weak, there is a definite drop off in interest driven by a move away from the instrumentation used throughout the first 8 tracks to a more minimalist style that relies more heavily on electronica. Those songs are not bad, but they do let the side down a little. Happily there is much more good than bad and the album has reaffirmed its place time and again on my commute and on longer journeys too, and now here. I am sure it will again, because life is always better when you get a bit of Tunng.
The album opens with a sonic warp, picked up by keys, then dropped (or rather faded back) in favour of a hooky guitar riff, to which rhythm is added. Hustle is a summer song, so light, bright and fun, foot tappingly so. It is pretty repetitive now I listen again and somewhere near the end gets a rattle that overpowers, but otherwise it is a strong little number that sets a tone nicely.
Catchy little tunes are what this era of Tunng is about. Gone/reduced are some of the more eccentric samples of Genders' era, in their place a structured framework to catch you and then keep you smiling. There are breaks in the pattern (there would have to be for it to work) but they really just emphasise the format.
Guitars are the main hook, but the patterning applies to the background sounds, percussion and so on too, as well as the vocal. There is some good use of harmony and contrast. Personally I think it is a really tough call between this and Good Arrows as to which is better (I still lean to the earlier one). Incidentally, Don't Look Down or Back is available as a free download here; it is pretty representative, but not my favourite: that is to come. The Roadside opens with staccato picking that just gets me tapping along so quickly that I am immersed before the other layers join in. I am noticing the echo effect on the vocal for the first time (consciously at least) now though, which just goes to show you can generally find something new even in favourites if you actually pay attention.
I used to think that the album went downhill from this point - shot its bolt too soon then faded out. There is an element of that, but it is premature yet. October is a neat tune; the harmony between the male and female voices is great, the way they blend in together whilst maintaining very distinct tones. It is a mellow track, too - nothing brash, nothing too catchy; a nice interlude before the much hookier Sashimi. Electrics make more of an obvious show in this one; no bad thing, but it makes it sound a lot more stark, cleansing the aural palate by sweeping away any lingering expectation of muted tones.
Whiskey not whisky, eh? I had not noticed the preference for Irish over Scotch previously; no idea whether it was intentional or the most natural way of spelling it for them. There is an odd moment in With Whiskey where it goes all A-Ha on us, lyrically - invoking Take On Me in the chorus, before finishing up and getting to the awesome instrumental that is By Dusk They Were In the City. This tune I adore... tuneful, loopy base with pauses and interjections before a build to a self-gratifying guitar solo - the sort of thing I am not generally a fan of - which is so well worked in to the overall progression of the track that it does not feel so... abusive. I think it is the continuation of the main structure around it that gives it that freedom as it sparks off the loops then drops out to allow the song to close. To be honest I did not really feel this time through as much as I have others - and particularly when I saw it live, but it remains my favourite track on the album.
These Winds strips everything back, largely a cappela but with a little percussion it is a complete tone change and feels longer than its sub-2 minute length. This is the point that I lose a little of my interest in the album with the track having less to hook me. Santiago continues this trend not because it lacks the hooks, but because I find the ones it has less sonically aesthetic. Hand claps and electronics predominate and these are just less compelling than the layered keys, guitars and percussion of earlier tracks. Weekend Away is not a great closer either. I love the way the chorus works but the verses and bridges are less compelling. Harmonies again are great, but the musicality of the arrangement is lacking for a large part of the track. When it swells up and you get more of the traditional elements, the track is stronger (they are natural crescendos in the piece too); pity they had to fall away again in the way they do. There is a secret track on the end of it, but thankfully it's only a few seconds after Weekend Away comes to a close so dead air is not an issue. There is not a lot to the hidden song and really I think we would have been better without it.
So the last quarter of the disc is a little weak, there is a definite drop off in interest driven by a move away from the instrumentation used throughout the first 8 tracks to a more minimalist style that relies more heavily on electronica. Those songs are not bad, but they do let the side down a little. Happily there is much more good than bad and the album has reaffirmed its place time and again on my commute and on longer journeys too, and now here. I am sure it will again, because life is always better when you get a bit of Tunng.
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