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| Track List: 1. Another Sunday Psalm 2. A Softer Voice Takes Longer Hearing 3. Fight for Everyone 4. Tearing the Arches Down 5. The Sober Scent of Paper 6. All I Have Seen 7. Everyone Understands 8. Life is a Cabriolet 9. One Man and His Fug 10. Forever Shall We Wait 11. We Go Together 12. The Last in a Long Line Running time: 44 minutes Released: 2013 |
OK, I suspect this will be a touch disappointing, although I might find that I simply have not previously given this album the attention it deserves. In context, The Leisure Society's debut album The Sleeper is one of my go-back-to-over-and-over favourites, but each release since has lost a little of the magic that made that album so special for me.
This album has a strong opening, with the sunny style that Nick Hemming has made his own very much present in the opening refrains. The man has chops, as Ivor Novello song-writing nominations testify. He also has a pretty decent voice and an identifiable style of delivery with his voice following the lilt of his words nicely, swelling and falling with the roll of the lyric. The song is quaint but loses me a bit when a mouth organ (or similar) is introduced. The album seems to jump back 60 years with its second track - it feels like a homage to older song forms, an impression strengthened by the string arrangements. I do not find it particularly endearing. Thankfully it is a single track effect. Fight for Everyone returns to more modern jauntiness and brings back an infectious happiness that reminds me of when I saw these guys live at End of the Road. It is a very pop-y song though at the same time I cannot imagine it actually being very popular with a wider audience. I like the hook, it brings a smile to my face, and I like that it is called and repeated in several different instruments. However the song then lets itself down by ending meekly and unexpectedly. It just does not feel complete.
It is followed by a number which strips back most accompaniment to the vocal to a staccato guitar, a musical departure that falls flat for me. I am surely guilty these days, of setting a style preference for an artist and then almost too-quickly disregarding their work when they stray from that preferred style, listening instead to the favoured tracks. This is odd, because I have always said I prefer it when artists evolve over time rather than stick to the same tired routine. Intellectually I think that is still true, but in practice pigeonholing artists in this way is useful shorthand for comparison. It is natural to want more of what you like and less of what you do not, and if evolution takes things away from the former and towards the latter it can feel like a negative. That does not make it one though; if no-one adapted and evolved we would all be bored of uniformity.
The middle section of this album is such an evolution. I do not find these songs work too well for me. There are interesting points, but I find myself pining for the musical joy of the arrangements that accompanied Hemming's earlier writing, rather than the very different sounds shared here. If I approached these in the right mood, I am certain I would enjoy the songs more... but I cannot shake the thought that I want to put The Sleeper on right now and listen to that instead. The more I think about it, the more that album is The Leisure Society. That kind of static viewpoint is not helpful; I want to see the good here.
There are some fuller arrangements going on too, and some more songs immediately recognisable as in the style of... There is a particular method applied to the guitar lines and rhythms that is very much a signature of The Leisure Society even before you hear the voice to confirm it. The majority of the tunes are decent, but there are not the stand out wonders I hope for. I suspect many of them would grow on me given repeated listens as one or two are producing a toe-tapping response as it is. However...
This album has a strong opening, with the sunny style that Nick Hemming has made his own very much present in the opening refrains. The man has chops, as Ivor Novello song-writing nominations testify. He also has a pretty decent voice and an identifiable style of delivery with his voice following the lilt of his words nicely, swelling and falling with the roll of the lyric. The song is quaint but loses me a bit when a mouth organ (or similar) is introduced. The album seems to jump back 60 years with its second track - it feels like a homage to older song forms, an impression strengthened by the string arrangements. I do not find it particularly endearing. Thankfully it is a single track effect. Fight for Everyone returns to more modern jauntiness and brings back an infectious happiness that reminds me of when I saw these guys live at End of the Road. It is a very pop-y song though at the same time I cannot imagine it actually being very popular with a wider audience. I like the hook, it brings a smile to my face, and I like that it is called and repeated in several different instruments. However the song then lets itself down by ending meekly and unexpectedly. It just does not feel complete.
It is followed by a number which strips back most accompaniment to the vocal to a staccato guitar, a musical departure that falls flat for me. I am surely guilty these days, of setting a style preference for an artist and then almost too-quickly disregarding their work when they stray from that preferred style, listening instead to the favoured tracks. This is odd, because I have always said I prefer it when artists evolve over time rather than stick to the same tired routine. Intellectually I think that is still true, but in practice pigeonholing artists in this way is useful shorthand for comparison. It is natural to want more of what you like and less of what you do not, and if evolution takes things away from the former and towards the latter it can feel like a negative. That does not make it one though; if no-one adapted and evolved we would all be bored of uniformity.
The middle section of this album is such an evolution. I do not find these songs work too well for me. There are interesting points, but I find myself pining for the musical joy of the arrangements that accompanied Hemming's earlier writing, rather than the very different sounds shared here. If I approached these in the right mood, I am certain I would enjoy the songs more... but I cannot shake the thought that I want to put The Sleeper on right now and listen to that instead. The more I think about it, the more that album is The Leisure Society. That kind of static viewpoint is not helpful; I want to see the good here.
There are some fuller arrangements going on too, and some more songs immediately recognisable as in the style of... There is a particular method applied to the guitar lines and rhythms that is very much a signature of The Leisure Society even before you hear the voice to confirm it. The majority of the tunes are decent, but there are not the stand out wonders I hope for. I suspect many of them would grow on me given repeated listens as one or two are producing a toe-tapping response as it is. However...
This blog is not a recommendation hotspot, but just listen to A Short Weekend Begins With Longing.
That is the standard to which I hold this band, and there is nothing on All Aboard the Ark that comes close to matching that in terms of its simple, genuine, magic. It was the song that captured me, it is representative of their debut album which is quality throughout. We Go Together captures a little of the feel, and there are hints of it sprinkled elsewhere throughout this collection of tunes; the overall impression is similar enough to be recognisably the same source, but also disappointingly removed enough that some of the magic is missing.
Let me clear up: the songs are all nice enough that I am keeping them. I like the approach to music taken by The Leisure Society, like their lyrics and arrangements. I look forward to what they may produce in future. I just not so secretly wish that they will make The Sleeper again.
That is the standard to which I hold this band, and there is nothing on All Aboard the Ark that comes close to matching that in terms of its simple, genuine, magic. It was the song that captured me, it is representative of their debut album which is quality throughout. We Go Together captures a little of the feel, and there are hints of it sprinkled elsewhere throughout this collection of tunes; the overall impression is similar enough to be recognisably the same source, but also disappointingly removed enough that some of the magic is missing.
Let me clear up: the songs are all nice enough that I am keeping them. I like the approach to music taken by The Leisure Society, like their lyrics and arrangements. I look forward to what they may produce in future. I just not so secretly wish that they will make The Sleeper again.
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