At Least For Now - Benjamin Clementine

Track list:

1. Winston Churchill's Boy
2. Then I Heard A Bachelor's Cry
3. London
4. Adios
5. St-Clementine-On-Tea-And-Croissants
6. Nemesis
7. The People And I
8. Condolence
9. Cornerstone
10. Quiver A Little
11. Gone

Running time: 50 minutes
Released: 2015

So as is traditional for me at this time of year, I have perused the list of Mercury nominated artists and picked up the ones that interest me. Including, this year, the winner. I am already certain that I won't want all of this from the samples I have heard, and if I had the patience to listen via streaming services before committing then, well... I wouldn't be here doing this now, would I?

I was interested not because it won, but because I saw it described with an emphasis on the piano melodies. On the evidence of the opening track (some horribly mangled English in the opening lyrics that reference Churchill's famous speech about the Battle of Britain aside) there could well be something to back up that initial interest. However this listen is going to be a challenge - I am battling not just the habitual tiredness that I can never escape (even after 12 hours in bed!) , but also a hangnail or something that means that it hurts whenever I use the little finger of my left hand. As that happens a fair bit when typing (a!) this could be a painful stretch.

First impressions are mixed. The language mess-up on the one hand balanced by a nice melody on the other. By the time the second track is well underway I am pretty sure I don't much like Clementine's voice, though I see some traces of Nina Simone in his vocal approach and appreciate the way his words are shaped, the actual sounds produced leave me a little cold. The structure of the tunes though... that is very likable, particularly the more upbeat opening to London. This song finds me less alienated by his singing voice too. Now the disc won the Mercury prize, I half expect this tune to crop up everywhere as backing music to adds, TV trails etc. It has that kind of universal appeal - the same sort of draw as To Build a Home by The Cinematic Orchestra, which also ended up everywhere after Ma Fleur was released.

Adios is a clear step down for my money - the move to a staccato style of playing makes for a far less engaging melody and it is really only the melodies that I am interested in here. This track redeems itself with a second half a world away from the first, and crams 3 movements into 4 minutes, an interesting contrast to the sameness of some things I have listened to recently. I haven't heard much more random than the 1 minute long insert with hyphens that is St-Clementine-On-Tea-And-Croissants; it just seems completely out of place and adds nothing. There is no tune, just a strained voice and a lyric that leaves much to be desired.

Thankfully it does seem to be a random insert because the next track is back to a pleasant melody. Like most so far it is piano-led with strong backing from strings and percussion, and here Clementine manages to make his voice fit well to the point that it no longer grates on me. Rather than the piano, this track is made by the string arrangement, the keyboard providing bass structure as much as anything else. The tracks seem longer than they are - not because they are dragging (as has been the case on some prior listens) but because they achieve the change ups and movements. My head has gone. It happened about the same time yesterday evening too - I just simply crashed and started feeling ready for bed very early in the evening. Yesterday I had an excuse of being busy with people all day, today I've done very little but recover and yet it still hits me. I am afraid that makes this listen largely void - I can barely concentrate all of a sudden.

The opening of Condolence is pretty special, high tempo but low key. The roll of the track continues after the vocal starts but it loses some of its hypnotic magic. Still a fine track though, my favourite so far. I find myself with little to say - tiredness, no doubt. I am very much on the fence about some of what I am hearing. Not all of the tracks have managed the different movements or got the balance between melody and structure, or allied well with what is not the most natural singing voice I have ever heard. I think I am going to have to listen again sometime soon, in a different mood, at a different time of day (of year? Winter gets to me so...) before rushing to judgement. However there is no way this would have been my British album of the year, though I have not bought that much this year it seems, my favourite release from 2015 has been Bashed Out; I called it as a potential album of the year when I picked it up months ago, and for me This is the Kit has not been topped. I find myself surprised that At Least for Now actually won the Mercury Prize, but also happy that something like this could win.

I feel that if his voice were a touch more musical then this could have been a lot more approachable. Getting past the rough edges and distinctive accent is causing me some issues, keeping me at a distance. I am happy to report that I didn't get turned off by anything in a big way, which I expected to from the track previews I had heard, except for the crazy out-of-place interlude. Wow, that is a lot of waffle for nothing really. More digression than discussion. Long story short I need to give Benjamin Clementine another chance.

Blue Roses - Blue Roses

Track list:

1. Greatest Thoughts
2. Cover Your Tracks
3. I Am Leaving
4. Can't Sleep
5. I Wish I...
6. Coast
7. Does Anyone Love Me Now?
8. Doubtful Comforts
9. Rebecca
10. Imaginary Fights

Running time: 45 minutes
Released: 2008

For the second time in recent days, two things in a row with the same duration (assuming I don't slam Benjamine Clementine in between, at least). I have a vague recollection of why I bought this - some Amazon recommendation or other based on other female singer/songwriters. That's not much of a stretch, as it is a musical furrow that I have ploughed regularly in search of new material over the years, mostly coming up disappointed as not much lives up to early Thea Gilmore for me. I don't really recall how any of this goes though and I'd rather not prejudge it.

We open with a piano melody. I guess by default I was expecting guitar so that was a nice surprise. The vocal is a little too ethereal for my liking, floral in places it does not always mesh ideally with the stresses on the notes beneath. The melody has nice crescendo and diminuendo, filling out growing in volume and then retracting back to simple quiet notes. The volume (in terms of mental space) is well aided by the vocal, even if it it is a little too shrill here and there. I end up on the fence over the song, but I think the melodies show promise.

There is a longer lead in to Cover Your Tracks, a nice combination of keyboard and violins. Oh, wait; it wasn't a lead in, it was the entirety of a short tune. Huh. No. It was the lead out to Greatest Thoughts - I did not see that, and it didn't feel like a lead out. There appeared to be a clean break before the melodies struck up. Interesting. When Cover Your Tracks starts for real it is a spangly plucked melody, nice. The vocal is piercingly high when it starts but there is a good sense of emotion in Laura Groves' voice as it moves over the registers with the tune. After the initial line, which felt far too high to be comfortable I rather like the singing here. In places it swamps the guitar, but that just makes the plucking more special where it recaptures the ear. Again we have a weird break mid-piece and what seems to be a new melody strikes up, but here it is more clearly a bridge.

I think this style may wear on me over 45 minutes. Nice little moments, but a little same-y in album form, perhaps and three quarters of an hour is a long time for the higher-reaching strains of her voice to worry my tolerance for high pitches. I have been sleeping like garbage this week too, so my patience is somewhat eroded through tiredness. Nothing like a nice lie-in on a Saturday to redress that, but I shall not be getting one because there is fun to be had. Can't Sleep seems like an appropriate song to start up as I am digressing into my poor sleep cycle, though the song itself is fairly snooze inducing. A simple picked melody with a bit of string support, it is not particularly stirring and as much as the pattern is pretty, I can't stare at it for ever. I find my mind drifting away because of the twee-ness.

I think these songs are too long for what they are. 5.00, 5.16, 6.53 - its a long time for tunes that lack many layers or changes of tone. I didn't write anything specific about I Am Leaving but it was the best of the tracks to date because it got through itself before the construction got dull or the voice wore on me, thus leaving the soothing melodies - Groves constructs hooks nicely - to have their positive effect before moving on. To be fair, I Wish I... feels as though it is trying to justify the longer run and I am better inclined to it because it is piano-led and less reliant on pattern. Changes of tempo help break it up, giving us movements. I take a moment to check Blue Roses' similar artists on LastFM and scratch my head; there is very little Alessi's Ark here, and definitely no She Keeps Bees. Not enough This is the Kit either. For all that, and despite the 7 minutes, I Wish I... is very nice.
 
There is something here. As much as I am not particularly enamoured of her singing, with too many high notes for my liking, I do like bits and pieces of what Groves has done here. If there was a bit more depth to the tracks - a little more to back up the nice little central themes - they could be really very catchy and memorable. As it is the veneer feels a little thin, there is not quite enough to the tracks for them to catch in the way their hooks warrants. I like the way she uses her voice, even if I think most of it is pitched too high for my taste - when she changes pitch, tone and tempo there is a real warmth to it but most of the time it has that slight warble and coldness of strain in the pitch. The biggest disconnect is between the voice and the tune behind it though; it feels like one is drawing you in whilst the other is keeping you at arms length with all its might.

That dissonance is a shame; if the two elements were more in concert then one or two of the songs here might just be elevated. It just feels a little too cobbled together to be really impressive, too shy to make the most of its positive attributes. In general I prefer the piano tunes to the guitar numbers, just reflecting my bias for the keyboard. I find it easier to forgive the repetition that sometimes creeps into the hooks because it is slightly more disguised. Mostly I found this listen too slow. I started it tired and ended it tireder. I can't say I really enjoyed it, whilst at the same time not really disliking it either. I think that ends up rather damning it with my disengagement, which is a pity because - as I said before - there are some great little elements here. Not ones I will be coming back to revisit though.

Blue Lines - Massive Attack

Track list:

1. Safe From Harm
2. One Love
3. Blue Lines
4. Be Thankful For What You've Got
5. Five Man Army
6. Unfinished Sympathy
7. Daydreaming
8. Lately
9. Hymn Of The Big Wheel

Running time: 45 minutes
Released: 1991

Ten years ago this would definitely have been tagged as a favourite. Now I'm not so certain. I pretty much guarantee I'll love it, but it isn't a disc I return to often. I have the original, not the remastered version and I think that I got into this through my brother - not unusual way back when; though he is younger than me he bought more music than I when we were in our teens. To think this is almost 25 years old now... its a true classic, but how does it listen this much later?

Two full albums in a day... I could be listening to this year's Mercury winner (which I need to do some point soon having picked it up, and it being an A), but the only reason I am doing this post now is that I want to hear these tunes.

The bass riff that forms the structure of Safe From Harm is iconic, Shara Nelson's vocal is amazing. Talk about setting a tone in the first 30 seconds. The periphery of the bass is incidental. There's stuff there but that riff is so strong. I have the disc of the samples that inspired Massive Attack somewhere in the future so that I can appreciate the source but there is no doubt at all that this stands as a shining example of how to sample and enhance. At 5 minutes the track feels short, compared with the tunes I listened to earlier which overstayed their welcome. I really should tag this "favourites" after all so I have. It only took 10 seconds to convince me.

Horace Andy appears for the first time on One Love. It never ceases to amaze me how many Massive Attack tunes are made or broken by this man. Either by the application of his vocal, or by virtue of being re-imaginings of songs from his past. There is a cool menace in the track here, and that combination of words is not a natural one. It's funny what the slightly tipsy brain will produce. In addition to wanting, and indulging, to listen to this now, I have a) just watched ep. 3 of London Spy - some very nice scenes - and seen trails for Luther and Line of Duty, two shows I am very pleased will reappear on screen soon. It's been a good evening in that regard.

Blue Lines sees us exposed to early Tricky for the first time, less angry here than on his own stuff. The interplay between the vocalists is nice, backed by a very chilled rhythm. Its a style that is really hard to deliver well - there is almost nothing to it in places. Many imitators since have failed to pull off the heady blend... just recently I branded Abraham lazy and faddish for their light-touch downbeat electronica. This is how to achieve that chillout goal whilst still being engaging. Do it first.

The sweet transition into Be Thankful for What You've Got is a magical moment. It's born from a pointed end to Blue Lines, and the immediate uptake of a rhythm so funky its not funny. Like much of the work that covers Horace Andy, this is not sample so much as cover, which I had never really appreciated. The original is on Protected so I'll compare and contrast in, I dunno, a decade? I am sure I've said on these pages before that I went to uni in Bristol, and in my first year there, after Massive Attack released Mezzanine I stayed late in the run-up to Christmas to see these guys play the Student Union. It remains a fond, if faded, memory. Later, when I was studying in Bath, I used to travel over to Bristol every week to game. On my way from station to location I walked through the parts of the city that spawned the Bristol Sound, and in that way you do, you think you see local celebs from time to time. Don't know if I ever really did though. Thought I saw Beth Gibbons of Portishead in a sandwich shop once too. Hah.

Five Man army comes and goes, a nice groove but really just a fill-in before the undoubted high point of Unfinished Sympathy. This really is a modern classic, a truly iconic tune in more ways than one. I get goose pimples as it starts, that off-kilter tapping, not quite tuneful bells and the sampled "hey hey hey hey". It is the start of the strings and the vocal that really set things moving though. Nelson's voice creams it, soulful and yearning, the strings speaking to loss. There is one moment at 2:24, when the piano comes in for a quick bridge that I always loved. It has less impact now, perhaps because I was so anticipating it. It's amazing the interplay between the percussion, which is tense and snappy, and the tune which is laid back and easy. They bottled something and released it here. 

Daydreaming has never really worked for me - as a concept or a song. The backing track just doesn't quite do it for me. Here the rhythm of it gets overpowering, a loop too far in terms of its impact on the experience for me... its very easy to get sucked into that beat pattern and miss everything else, which is what happened to me just now. Lately changed it up and I suddenly snapped out of a wander. This has the same problem of an over-bearing central hook, but manages it better through strings and another Nelson vocal which follows the pattern of the rhythm in an interesting way.

The album ends with another high point. The Hymn of the Big Wheel is just a gorgeous little rhythm behind a very simple tune, but it owes all of its magic to Horace Andy's vocal. Man, I love the way he sings this. All love, released; free. In truth, re-tagging it as a favourite is probably a bit of a push. There are to my mind four stand out songs on this disc: Safe From Harm, Be Thankful... Unfinished Sympathy and this. It's less than half of the album, but these tunes are timelessly good and elevate an enjoyable if somewhat surpassed effort to something that few discs can really claim to match: genre definition.

Blue Lights on the Runway - Bell X1

Track list:

1. The Ribs of a Broken Umbrella
2. How Your Heart Is Wired
3. The Great Defector
4. Blow Ins
5. Amelia
6. A Better Band
7. Breastfed
8. Light Catches Your Face
9. One Stringed Harp
10. The Curtains Are Twitchin'

Running time: 54 minutes
Released: 2009

Random insert time. No - not another videogame post (though part of me wants to write something about Cities Skylines and how... I love the game by find myself happier to watch others play than play myself), but an album from a band that I cannot for the life of me recall why I picked it up. Apparently this was Bell X1's fourth album. I'd never heard of them or heard the other three, and haven't heard or looked for anything since. Something must have linked them to other artists I was enjoying back in early 2009, that's the only possible explanation. No idea what though, so this will be a discovery listen.

It starts with a pretty dull drum pattern and an odd synth tone. Breathy vocals over an Eighties-sounding backing is not really what I was expecting - I don't know what I did expect, but it wasn't this. It's the bad synths that give it a dated sound, and additional electronics appear as the song moves forwards, whilst staying very much the same. Then it goes all dramatic, introduces handclaps and a tinny piano. Hmm this is not really for me, though I do quite like the vocal, there's a charisma to it, a purpose that seems a bad fit with the cheesy backing and the oddball lyrics.

With the songs on average over 5 minutes in length this could end up feeling like a slog unless the output improves. How Your Heart is Wired is better. Whilst it has hints of 80s rock, it does a good job of communicating a sense of loneliness in the big city that I rather like. I have heard something similar to this recently but I can't place it... perhaps shades of Talking Heads, but that wouldn't be anything that I have listened to of late. In any case this is a much better song, until it sticks in a rut and I realise that I have actually been listening to A Better Band because like a doofus I forgot to switch off shuffle. Doh! The actual second track is a low key vocal over snappy synth-sounding drums and a self-indulgent guitar noodle in places. It has flashes of pleasantries and, yes - there is a distinct hint of David Byrne in the vocal to my (admittedly unfamiliar) ear - but it's not a step up really. I am left with the distinct impression that the group don't know how or when to close out their songs as much as anything else - there are great swathes of dead space in the latter half of the track that frankly add nothing to a recorded delivery. Live, such space might give room to work the crowd, allow highlights of individuals or so on, but on disc it just drags out the tune and causes me to lose what little interest I still had at the point the vocals disappeared.

Track 3 starts with sounds reminiscent of cartridge videogames, which if anything just strengthens the 80s rock feel. The 2009 date would put this at the early end of the 80s revival of recent times, I think, so if anything this release may have been ahead of the times as weird as that seems. That said, it is truly 80s - less homage or inspired by, more direct copy that could have come out of the decade itself and been sat on for 30 years. I have perhaps rather grown into the sound, as The Great Defector is a very enjoyable track - there's a life, a vibrancy, to the chorus that is pleasingly happy and twangy.  It is mid afternoon on a Monday. I have the day off because I was up too late last night, having seen Bellowhead in Aylesbury - 25 minutes one way from me, then driving a friend back to Witney, 25 miles the other way. Good gig as ever - consolation prize for not having been quick enough (inside a couple of minutes) to get tickets for the farewell gig at Oxford Town Hall.  I am feeling lethargic today, most of what I needed to do over the weekend completed on the actual weekend, and somehow lying in this morning left me empty and lacking energy. A bit like Blow Ins, which is never unpleasant and actually has a nice piano melody, but is so bland that even amongst longer tracks its 4 and an half minutes seem to last an eternity.

I rather like the staccato construction of Amelia's main theme and the cadence of the verse but it is rather too sparse for me to want just shy of 7 minutes of it. I am really hoping that there is a change up somewhere in here to make it worthy of the length, but I won't hold my breath. It's a shame because the duration aside I like pretty much everything else about the track - the vocal is good and engaging (consistently the best part of Bell X1's repertoire on the evidence of half a disc), the backing that swells and falls away behind the main theme is sparkles in a night sky pretty, and appropriate. But the song is done at about 4 and a half minutes. Why do we need 2 and a half more of un-innovative repetition?

Speaking of repetition, I think I've heard this before... yep, back to A Better Band. I don't mind listening to the first 3 minutes of the track a second time because it really works, and could have come straight from an 80s movie soundtrack. However about half way through it devolves to boring instrumental. This is the point that I checked how long the song had to run, to realise I was listening to the wrong track earlier in the disc and, alas, the answer is another 3 minutes. Crappy guitar masturbation is not what I signed up for, and when an awful wailing is added to it I despair: end your damn songs within a minute of running out of words and your output could be so much better! I might even say you would be a better band.

The next track is dull, the vocal muted and less distinctive, the guitars much rockier and more generic for it. So bland I have nothing to offer, and I find myself reading up on Talking Heads on Wikipedia instead; bad habit but it is hard to stop the mind wandering sometimes. All sense of pace is bled out of the album now. A slow piano melody replaces the guitars of nothingness and in a different context I might enjoy this song more but here and now... it does nothing to make me love it after the previous track disengaged me from the disc quite thoroughly. The vocal at least has some character again, but not enough to elevate a featureless song and melody into anything worthwhile.

There are some really dubious lyrics in the mix here too. One Stringed Harp's title line is applied to someone fiddling with their underwear... its really not very clever or interesting, a bit like the music that goes with it. I see flashes over the course of the disc that I like, but as a whole it all falls a bit flat, overrunning, taking their eye off the ball and ultimately delivering an air shot rather than a screamer into the top corner. Torturous football analogy aside, I am now into the final track and the other sin seems to be that the second half of the album loses all energy. Breastfed - the loud bland guitar rock - aside the mood has definitely been on a downswing and what that achieves is simply nullifying the best bits of the singer's style and replacing the 80s vibe I got from the early tracks with a tired and tiring downbeat direction. Couple that with songs dragging on past their prime and, well, the album as a whole is a massive disappointment. I do very much like The Great Defector though, so not a complete and utter wash out.

The Blue God - Martina Topley-Bird

Track list:

1. Phoenix
2. Carnies
3. April Grove
4. Something to Say
5. Baby Blue
6. Shangri La
7. Snowman
8. Da Da Da Da
9. Valentine
10. Poison
11. Razor Tongue
12. Yesterday

Running time: 39 minutes
Released: 2008

I am not entirely sure what to expect from this. I have a feeling that I never really listened to it a lot, and yet I can very clearly and vividly hear two of the tracks in my mind simply by looking at the titles here. I suspect it might be a bit of a roller-coaster, with highs and lows. Should keep the listen rolling forward at least!

There is a tawdry (great word!) air to Phoenix as soon as it starts, granted by the soft edge to the keys. The vocal is close and rounded and there is just enough rhythm to be interesting but it is the atmosphere that is the immediate take home, shifty and uncertain. The track is sparse, but never feels empty, which makes it an immediate step up from last night's listen. This isn't even one of those tracks I recalled by name.

It has been a very long week, mind trapped at 100 miles an hour between work and arranging a remortgage. Friday night is welcome but not for socialising. In truth I am doing this now (9.15pm) to stop myself collapsing into bed and waking irrevocably at 2am.

Carnies picks up the thematic baton and runs with it - the music fits the title and lyrics perfectly... a sort of irregular-feeling pulse and bustle that could easily be imagined in a sideshow full of onlookers, game stands, street food etc. Topley-Bird's voice still carries the drawlish elements I remember - some sounds seeming to last an eternity or get smudged together, but others are clipped or skipped. There is a rockier feel to April Grove, a groove out of some staid rock, but made funky again by the timbre - very clear and clean - which contrasts with the other elements, noticeably the vocal which has an echo-ish volume to it. I seem to dimly remember liking this album originally, but not this much. It feels fresh somehow, though I cannot see why.

That said, we hit a track I don't like. Weirdly my point of reference for Something to Say is Arab Strap, and the bonus waffle of "Bon Voyage" on the end of Ten Years of Tears - its something to do with the staccato, deliberately cheap sounding low-fi sounds. The song never really takes off and the addition of a grungy guitar later may help but it cannot rescue it. Thankfully it finishes and the delightful Baby Blue replaces it. The vocal here is just so pleasant, like water running out of one's ear. The percussion - which I think could stand to be a little softer - and the tune are just enough to set off the song, which is not profound or anything, but it is one of the finest singing performances I can name off the top of my head in terms of sheer pleasure.

What follows is an odd minute plus instrumental intro. It has glimmers of interest, but its just a bit much, and that feeling is compounded when the vocal finally arrives, hammering the ear with an insistence that I find unpleasant. There are crackles and static in the construction, and the constant snapping sounds, combined with repeating chords, is not nice - completely overshadowing what was an interesting little melody in the quieter moments. The next track also has a long wandering intro, more musical this time and, surprisingly I find the track weakened by the vocal on an album by a singer with no regular band to back them, that's not a great thing to say. To be fair, there are other items arriving with the vocal that make Snowman less appealing, and when it fades out... just no. Da Da Da Da is the full vocal of the next track. I applaud the idea to use the voice as an instrument, but this track - and the particular syllables chosen - are just not strong enough for it to be interesting or desirable in this instance. Again elements of the piece are nice but they are subservient to the dross.

Valentine returns to a more classic song structure and the hazy effect applied to her voice on a fair few of these tracks. It lends the song an old-timey kind of air, I can picture it sung to a gothic ballroom with one of those metal stand-mics with a big corporate logo branded across it and an extravagant dress with never-ending train. For my tastes it is a little light on interest, but I reckon it probably nails exactly what it was shooting for. I am also suddenly reminded of the aesthetic of Transistor (soundtrack listen to come eventually), which is awesome - elegiac and modern rather than olde worlde (with pronounced e). The foggy picture of the past is gone as suddenly as it appeared. Poison is much more bustle, but no strut. It could probably have done with some of the latter.

Last couple already... it has been a while since I did so many short listens back to back and in doing so it gives the impression of progress. Alas still a shedload of Bs to get through, though there are some crackers still to come under this letter. The initial shine created by the opening trio of tunes has faded, dulled, but not gone entirely. A handful of poor numbers don't detract from the high points too much. There is perhaps a little bit too much experimentation in the production, the more lavish, rounded numbers are better for my ear than those that play about with sharper sounds. I will end up with about half an album, but it is a pretty darn good half album retained and speaks to a "what might have been" really; this could have been a stunner.

Blue for the Most - Abraham

Track list:

1. Magpie
2. Stay Here
3. What Gives With You
4. City For Us
5. Start The Song Backwards
6. Blue For The Most
7. For All The Times
8. Heather
9. Freedom's When
10. On A Plane
11. Ever So Slowly

Running time: 39 minutes
Released: 2002

So there was a point I bought up a lot of downtempo electronica. I think I was inspired by how much I loved Bonobo's Animal Magic (that may well end up the most linked post in the blog) and just made purchases of fancy in that general direction. I am pretty sure that is how I happened upon Abraham. I recall really liking this album - particularly the title track and the opener, Magpie. However I don't think that I have once thought of it or played it in the last couple of years (Last FM confirms no scrobbles since 2013). I really don't expect it to stand up, thinking instead that I will see it for the faddish purchase it was, but we'll see.

The early strains sound dated. The vocal is still pretty but - and I'm going to run into this again when I unearth my Zero 7 albums, I'm sure - it just feels... old, tired. Early noughties chill, no place in the modern world. Yet I have need of open lazy time more than ever of late. Despite really appreciating the target goal of the track, I am just not seeing how it engenders it. It's a little too empty, and that was one of the songs I remembered fondly.

Stay Here is familiar once the lyric gets moving and suffers from the same problem. There is sod all of any interest going on in the composition. Boring rhythm that is just a little too persistent, lack of any melody worth the name. The voice doesn't hold the same lustre as it did on Magpie either. It has some kind of dirty effect applied, making it breathier, grubbier; duller. The next track is worse - it adds more variation in the arrangement but that is achieved by cheesy synth sounds that make my toes curl. I don't know if I am just in the wrong mindset for this or whether I somehow blinded myself to tracks full of faults in search of a sound that others did better. What really astounds me sitting here in 2015 is that I bought another Abraham record after this one. The one thing I will say in its favour - the songs are shortish and so it won't keep me too long. Somewhere along the line they might just manage a decent blend of interesting patterns to go with the singing which is, at least, consistently pleasant. Its problem is that pleasant is certainly not enough - not any more.

I wrote the intro, that describes this as faddish, a few days ago. I have only just re-read the sentence. Sometimes one has a sense for these things. In fairness, I think the particular style of music that this espouses is a really hard one to do with any kind of longevity. This would have only worked because there were a hundred and one different groups churning out "chillout" music with ethereal vocals and plenty of space to relax into; it was everywhere, you couldn't escape it and frankly it was a darn site less annoying than Nu-Metal.

Hmm - the title track just started. Here the organ line lends it a freshness, supporting the singer a little more. There is still a lot of blandness in the rest of the piece but it is a very noticeable jump in interest. I was all set to be sceptical of it given how little Magpie still appealed, but this? Its alright. Not stellar, but it actually has enough to it to work and hit the target it was shooting for. You have three or four things happening throughout the track which helps stop any of them from becoming too dominant or repetitive and it allows her voice to soar and engage. My listen seems to be blighted by odd jumps - a bad rip, perhaps? - but that is a big step up from boredom. The next track even threatens to pick up the baton and keep the level at an acceptable level for a while, but then just fails to build on a start that had enough in terms of rhythm and synth strings to build false promise. It quickly settles into a rhythm which is disappointing. It is still miles more interesting than the first 5 tracks though.

I have had a strange few days, to the point I am finding that I need every second I can to try to de-clutter my mind. I am just constantly mentally switched on at the moment and it means that I am not finding time for active participation in fun. Weirdly I find this sort of stream-of-consciousness effort conducive to that mental decompression. I switch off the parts of my brain that are chewing over things and just let surface thoughts run wild. That's probably why the opening is quite so negative. I don't like ragging on things really - I would far rather say something is not for me than that it is bad, and be on far more safe ground if I did. That said, I don't think the "one in a crowd of many" spirit of the comments is particularly unfair or unkind. Abraham certainly were not the most celebrated of the downtempo clones that appeared with the new millenium, they are also probably far from the worst. They just happen to be the lacklustre one that I have the misfortune to be spending my Thursday evening with!

The digression of the previous paragraph signifies a return to the flatness I felt listening to the first half of the disc. There just isn't quite enough happening here to switch on and tune my ears in to, and neither is it having a soothing, relaxing effect. There is something a little... awkward about some of the rhythms employed, exacerbated by the odd skip or jump in the playback which has persisted past the one song, which prevents me from finding the pieces as placating as I am sure they were intended to be. I am into the last couple now, and the vocal performance on On a Plane is more daring, stretching and soaring like the subject of the title (I have not picked out the lyrics enough to say whether it fits the subject of the song). Alas whilst that is interesting and a welcome stretching of the safety the other tracks have been mired in, it is paired with a particularly dull backing and so on balance the tune is no more appealing to me than any of the rest. A shame really.

I think this vocalist could have been wonderful with a more inspired tune to back her up, but alas what she seems to hve been working with is distinctly middle of the road, uninspired, even phoned-in arrangement. There are warbles and tinkles on the final track that remind me of some of the sounds used on Premieres Symptomes by Air... but where there they are (from memory) used as part of a sonic construction to build interest, here they are left isolated. The difference in impact is therefore immense and ultimately I find my prediction confirmed. Only the title track really stood out; only the title track survives the swing of the axe.

Blue Boy - Ron Sexsmith

Track list:

1. This Song
2. Cheap Hotel
3. Don't Ask Why
4. Foolproof
5. Tell Me Again
6. Just My Heart Talkin'
7. Not Too Big
8. Miracle in Itself
9. Thirsty Love
10. Never Been Done
11. Thumbelina Farewell
12. Parable
13. Keep It in Mind
14. Fallen

Running time: 41 minutes
Released: 2001

I wish I could recall what got me to pick up this album. It was my entry into the works of Ron Sexsmith, and was a real favourite for a while. I have drifted away from his music of late, stopped buying new releases (I don't have his latest couple of albums) and not really listened to any that I have for quite some time. This is a welcome excuse to retread old ground and see if I can reconnect.

We start with a pleasing meta-song, its incredibly easy listening. Simple structure, nice little roll and Sexsmith's slightly off-kilter voice. I seem to have a bit of a penchant for singers where things are almost as broken as they are pristine. Meanwhile the song swells, horns adding it a depth and a volume to keep it ticking. I can see why Ron Sexsmith ended up being a prolific songwriter for other people without ever making it big himself.

I just love the timbre of the guitar lead on Cheap Hotel, whilst the sadness of the song is palpable. Just as I remember, the start of this album is pretty strongly up my street, and after a breeze through low rent accomodation Don't Ask Why adds an injection of life. Here a catchy tune and a nice full sound picks us up. The change up for the chorus is really effective at shifting the mood and creating themes in the music. I hadn't realised the ooohs and aaahs that form the backing when we hit the second chorus before - and I suspect I may have missed them in the first instance this time. This is a pretty bright little pop song really. My memory is that the album doesn't keep up this hit rate all the way through though, and Foolproof's stripped back, slow dance number fails to charm me. Its the sort of tune that makes me feel it could have been a massive hit 5 decades earlier and sung by a crooner of the era, and could probably be a major crowd-pleaser for modern knock-offs too. Ronald Eldon Sexsmith may have penned it but somehow the overriding impression is that his voice lacks the cachet to carry it off.

And yet. It is that same lack of security, a slight wobble, a rough edge in his voice that attracts me to his music. That and a knack for finding little melodies that are far more engaging and enjoyable than one might expect them to be. There's nothing epic, grand or posturing about his tunes, they're just tight and interesting enough to do their job and catchy enough to get you nodding along or tapping a foot or something. In a similar vein, the songs aren't singalong at full volume, or even mouth the words in appreciation, candidates but neither are they vapid little love songs.

I've hit half way already - these songs are short, radio friendly and all that. Not Too Big is a different feel again, snappy percussion, talking about loneliness in crowds. It has a downbeat kind of kick, bass-heavy, not much melody. It's damn catchy - the snap to the snare, the handclaps, the bass riff - somehow all speak to inactivity whilst maintaining a groove. It's a lovely piece of composition. Just to show range, the next track is a piano melody that I could listen to over and over - though I think the strings on Miracle in Itself aren't great in places and that the tune as a whole could do with a greater depth of sound. There is a tumbledown, accidental air to it.

I think I once saw a documentary following Sexsmith through the process of recording and releasing an album where his comparative success as a writer (with fellow Canucks Feist and Michael Bublé - the only time that tag will get used! - among those to have covered him) and the niche reach of his own releases came up. A quick Google turns up Love Shines, which suggests I wasn't going mad.  This one album showcases a range of songs that makes it hard to see why concerted attempts to grow his own audience failed. With a bit more backing, a bit more production on the tracks, some of them could be huge. And yet (again). To do so would probably rob them of a charm, an understatement that is a key component of his songwriting.

Blue Boy starts strong, but I think it is fair to say the second half of the record does not quite live up to that promise. Though as I try to think why I feel that is fair, every criticism I was going to turn out gets disproved by the next track to start. I'd forgotten the pleasantness of the melody in Parable for example. I think this track has problems - the percussion is too loud relative to everything else, and there isn't really enough to set off the light touch of the guitar, and Sexsmith's voice is perhaps as not quite there as it gets on this disc given the style of delivery too. That said, the strength of that core line and the general ambiance of the tune are so... nice.

Keep It In Mind is the proof that my theory of the second half being poor is garbage. This tune has a fantastic cadence change between verse and chorus based on the change of rhythm. The guitar work is tinny in a studied way, minimalist and very effective. It's foot-tappingly great for the first 2 minutes before making a poor decision not to close out and carries on with improvised vocal, weakening what went before. Fallen is another ballad, noodled guitar and brushed drums create a soft and sweet melody but there is a sadness in Sexsmith's voice that is hard to escape - I think it is a natural artefact of the slightly flattened way he seems to reach the notes because it's not really a sad song. It is the final song on the disc, though. In summary? I still really like this album, but I can see very clearly why I stopped listening to it as much and, if I am honest, why I felt I didn't need to continue buying Sexsmith's records: I don't think the others match up that well to this. I do have a fair few more to listen to though, so maybe I'll prove myself wrong again!

Blowback - Tricky

Tracklist:

1. Excess
2. Evolution Revolution Love
3. Over Me
4. Girls
5. You Don't Wanna
6. #1 Da Woman
7. Your Name
8. Diss Never (Dig Up We History)
9. Bury The Evidence
10. Something in the Way
11. Five Days
12. Give it to 'Em
13. A Song for Yukiko

Running time: 50 minutes
Released: 2001

I doubt I will like this much. I didn't get on with Angels with Dirty Faces to the point where I excised the whole disc from my library. Whilst I am not sure that Blowback will get quite such short shrift, I do think it will contain a fair amount that is not for me, and that Tricky's output in general leans that way. Pity I have at least a couple more albums in the tank if so. Still, one can hope to be surprised.

The opening of Excess has a nice roll to it, a consistent rumble, and after the first exploratory vocals there is a small flash of augmentation to that, keys providing a melodic touch, which builds a rather pleasant and accessible track. Not what I was expecting. Of course, I have a problem with it. There is a little too little of the melody, and the track elongates and stays beyond its welcome - not by introducing anything unpleasant but by simply not introducing anything new to the picture. A shame, it could have been much better.

OK, so I recognise Evolution Revolution Love when it starts. For some reason I thought this tune was on a different album. The track is, again, accessible in a way I didn't find anything on Angels. The chorus is the bit that sticks in the memory, but it is the variation in vocal styles applied throughout the piece that makes it work. Like Excess there isn't a whole lot of change or variation in the music here, but switching between a few different deliveries keeps the track a fair bit fresher. You could probably knock 30-40 seconds of its length without noticing it, but I actually think it works all the same.

I don't get on so well with the vocal styling on Over Me. This is a duet of sorts between a very... something low bassy vocal and a waifish female voice doing the chorus. How to describe that male voice? I can't begin to find words. Whilst not a million miles away from one of the approaches on the prior track, here it just grates, and the backing remains pretty staid. Nothing to grab my attention. I am therefore glad when Girls introduces a nice rocky guitar riff. Tricky's angry lyric suits this style, but the more traditional rock vocal that joins/forms backing at some point is a bit feeble. Still, the track is rather catchy up until the point the hook gets old. To be fair as that point slips by the structure of the track does change up a little, but the switch is temporary and too short. At 3 minutes the track feels like it has gone for 5 and by the time it ends (4:21) it feels more like a lifetime. A pity - because I rather enjoyed the lead vocal here.

I'm sorry, I can't get past the altered sample of "Sweet Dreams" in You Don't Wanna. I find it fails to work, and worse than that there are points where the vocal harmonies applied over it are dissonant to my ear, and the lead vocal line is affected and hard to like at the best of times. Not for me. This is the first track that has been a complete flop though, and I feel comfortable declaring this a more easily approached record than the previous listen. Apparently the next track is chock full of Red Hot Chilli Peppers; whatever. It feels bland and boring whenever it isn't Tricky's rasping voice in play, and even then the backing is dull. The weirdness continues when we move on to something based around "Under the Bamboo Tree". It maintains the rhythm of the inspiration and feels really out of place here, light, weightless and plastic - a world away from the interest in the disc which largely resides in the darker parts.

Having said that the next track provides interest in a more positive way. I don't much like the vocal on Diss Never but the way the chorus opens up musically is rather appealing, and there is nothing dark about the feel to this track. That said, I am more engaged when the threat and tension return. I find that Tricky's ear for a good riff is evident here and he has the rasp to really compliment a strong rocky guitar well. Alas what seems to be lacking on Blowback is much in the way of changing up those riffs so that they don't get over repetitive. Either that or the brevity needed to keep tunes to a length that would prevent boredom with the looping. Maybe I've just got a short attention span this evening, though - after all, he's the successful musician. I'll gloss over the bad Nirvana cover (I wouldn't have known but for the album's entry in Wikipedia) as I am not familiar with the original and frankly there is no interest for me in this track anyway. Then the novelty of hearing the voice behind Girls Just Want to Have Fun on a dark track. Sure, Cyndi Lauper is more than that one song, but I'm damned if I know her from anything else. This track is just dull, no life in the rhythm, no life in the duet, no melody at all and far too much repetition, not just in the loops and percussion but also in the lyrics. It feels like it lasts the period described in the title.

Two tracks to go and my overall impression has gone from surprised and positive early on to pretty flatly bored and negative near the end. Flat is probably the best single-work description that I can offer. The early tracks aside there is very little here that lifts any of the tracks above background noise, and when there is, those tracks quickly become flat from lack of variation. This post must read likewise, seeing as it is constantly covering the same theme - and to avoid doing that any further I have nothing more to say about the closing.

Beings - Lanterns on the Lake

Track list:

1. Of Dust & Matter
2. I'll Stall Them
3. Faultlines
4. The Crawl
5. Send Me Home
6. Through The Cellar Door
7. Beings
8. Stepping Down
9. Stuck For An Outline
10. Inkblot

Running time: 41 minutes
Released: 2015

New music time... released only this week even. Beings would have already been covered by the alphabetical ordering of this project so this listen is quite literally my first. I picked up Gracious Tide Take Me Home after a very wet Latitude in 2012, loved it and thus when I saw Lanterns on the Lake had new music coming out I simply bought sound unheard. Silly, perhaps, but I'm comfortable enough to permit such folly - after all that cuts to the heart of the reasoning behind this blog: I have too much that I don't appreciate!

First listens are rarely a fair appreciation of everything a record has to offer, but first impressions are generally amongst the most interesting. We shall see.

It opens with monitor-like beeping and a muted strumming over a straining squeal of a sound - long drawn out notes - backing up a very distinctive vocal. As the song goes the strumming is replaced, or augmented with keys, doing the same job of breaking up the backing in a similar manner. I rather like the atmosphere but the music doesn't give me anything concrete to latch on to that would allow me to say that it is a great start.

I'll Stall Them has a more rounded sound, more immediately identifiable with the group's prior work. Warm swirls of overlapping themes circle the lyric. There is a bit more life, more volume perhaps, than some earlier songs - its definitely from the same roots but feels a little less insular as a result. An openness in the melodies, the strings especially, speaks to a big picture rather than a closed shop. Today is all about recovery after a busy week. I have a lot to do this weekend but taking time out for things like this is important to making me feel human again and stop me thinking about how crappy the world is given events in Paris last night. Faultlines carries a sorrow, but it does it with a cadence and pace that makes it anything but wallowing. Richness of sound, lines laid atop each other to build a depth, a cushioning feel. My left index finger is hurting at the top joint when I type, this is an irritant and I hope it is temporary as I have targeted getting up to date on Actual Play write-ups this weekend in addition to a couple of listens. Thus far I am enjoying this, though.

A very different type of melody - thick and again shared between guitar and keys is the opening of The Crawl. Gone are the textured layers here to start, though they begin to build up again their use is more sparse than on previous tunes, with the bulk of the structure carried by the drums, which have a nice rumble in their pattern, and the one clear melody. These two elements mesh really nicely, taking my ear away from the vocal, which feels odd. Lanterns on the Lake always appealed because of the nesting of their song inside the webs the music created but here the vocal is less appealing, fading. Now we have two shorter songs, the first a simple piano melody that builds up an aura of other bits and pieces rather than sharing focus around. The vocal is in places so soft as to be barely audible. The second piece is a brighter sound clear and clean notes as opposed to the previous use of sustain, at least in the opening. I prefer the second track, though it appears to lose its sense of self about two thirds through and devolve into mediocre guitar wailing, rather ruining the appreciation of the early segment.

The title track is longer again - 6 and a half minutes. This feels very much in the vein of their prior output, much of which is labeled shoegaze in a staggeringly negative genre-typing, as if introspection is something to be avoided. Too much of it can cause problems, of course - but so, too, can too little. This is a slow piece and reminds me as much of post rock (a staggeringly pretentious genre-typing), early This Will Destroy You in particular. I like the melodies, but the vocal degrades to ill-advised edginess in places, a style that really does not suit our singer's voice.

There is a real feeling of detachment about the opening of Stepping Down. This feels like something off another album, darker, distant, emptier. The vocal is the focal point when it is in play, and that provides the continuity from the tracks before, but soundscape-wise this is much bleaker, lonely and cold. Uncaring. Its well crafted and I rather like the track but it feels a little out of place. I am immediately drawn back in by the construction of Stuck for an Outline though. Nice engaging guitars, which my ear clings to amid the swell of the vocal and strengthening percussion of the climactic moments. Oddly I am left with the feeling that the vocals let this album down a little, which is a surprise to me. I think I will need to listen again in other circumstances where my own words are not my mind's primary stream of consciousness in order to get a fairer appraisal. I definitely need to listen to this again soonish in order to let the tracks bed in. It's bound to be better when it is more familiar.

The record comes to a close with a pointless little meander, an instrumental which really offers very little at first glance. As I close this post in turn, I am left feeling good about the purchase in general despite a couple of apparent flaws and foibles.

Bloodsport - Sneaker Pimps

Track list:

1. Kiro Tv
2. Sick
3. Small Town Witch
4. Black Sheep
5. Loretta Young Silks
6. M'aidez
7. The Fuel
8. Bloodsport
9. Think Harder
10. Blue Movie
11. Grazes

Running time: 53 minutes
Released: 2002

This album I remember as being full of really vital songs. Great tunes, but not necessarily a great album. I always contrasted it with Splinter, which was a far more cohesive experience with good, but not so great, individual songs. I don't quite know whether the anger and fire I remember as fueling this record will still give me a kick these days, now I'm not so young anymore. 

The staccato opening to Kiro TV remains fresh in the memory, and the nasal, edgy tone to Chris Corner's voice really sets the track off. The chorus is better than the rest, it seems to climax, come together in a synergy greater than the sum of its parts. In the verse its functional but dull, but with the injection of a bit more life and an extra effort or two in the singing it lights up. Grubby underground club film scene, side orders of sleaze and a certain type of movie-influenced sexuality. The confluence of factors works, whilst never leaving me comfortable listening to it.

Midweek. Busy week. My only night here at home, after a day of isolation working from my front room. And I just watched the first episode of Ben Whishaw vehicle London Spy on iPlayer. The only option for a listen and this - as well as being next cab off the rank - is a good fit. Sick uses strings and a guitar loop in place of the club-like sounds in places, a lighter touch to the music but not to themes. This is not happy positive stuff at all, but urgent and evocative. A sense of antipathy and misanthropy drips off every word, a feeling reinforced by the musical structures.

That restrained hate gives Bloodsport a vitality, an angst and a purpose that I really like in my music. It isn't screaming rage, its contained, let out with control to create something. Its a positive expression, harnessing negative emotion for effect. Whether deliberate, or just something I am inferring from the strain in his voice and the dominant tones in the construction I couldn't say, but I remember having this exact same reaction back when I first heard these songs, and having the same positive opinion of the disc. The guitar wobble in the hook of Black Sheep adds a sense of loneliness to the track, even as layering of the vocal builds a sense of a wider world. It strikes me as a very effective combination for the song, isolating and ostracizing. I really couldn't have stumbled onto a more appropriate album to listen to this evening all told. The song itself is one I remember liking but despite liking the effect outlined above, I find it a little flat as a piece of music tonight.

There are electronic beeps ending one track and making a seamless transition into Loretta Young Silks, which actually has a rather off-putting vocal staccato effect I don't remember. Once the song proper starts that fades away, thankfully, and its a head-noddy nothingness. Until, that is, the chorus hits. Like Kiro TV before it, the chorus just injects a sense of hurt, of being wronged, of disdain, into both the music and the vocal that the song takes off. The three choruses are certainly enough to drag the track up to a point where I would consider it the high point so far.

There is a significant shift in tone then. M'Aidez is a strained vocal, but the musical theme is much, much lighter, floating. There is still a darkness lurking there, but it has the impression of being to this album what How Do is to Becoming X. I suppose it works to cleanse the aural palette but I am not sure it is needed and as it goes on I am getting more and more thrown out of the appreciative mood that I was in at the end of the prior track. Thankfully it is a minor misstep; The Fuel is pure energy. The tension comes back in the second it starts, but it takes until the rhythm really establishes for it to generate the pure driving momentum I remember the track for. I see visuals of someone forcibly walking through crowds on dark, rain-swept back streets, fighting past exposed metalwork, dudes twice their size and dangerous ladies with far too many piercings. Always moving, always bobbing. I don't see it as vehicular movement, but constant personal flow. It's really hard to sit still and type with that bass. I really like this track in case you hadn't worked that out, despite never having been into the club scene, and particularly not the kind of club scene I imagine when I hear these kind of tunes.

The title track bleeds off the excess movement. Whilst still tense it is much more introspective and almost soft by comparison despite the heartache of the lyrics. "Love is just a blood sport" is a pretty epic level of cynicism that I used to share. Now I just feel too far removed from the sentiment in anything other than a familial sense to comment - I am far less bitter about this than I was when I was in my 20s. The track is catchy enough but at five and a half minutes it feels like it drags on a bit too far, so I am happy when we tick over to Think Harder. This track has the pace and energy of The Fuel, harnessed differently. It's less tense, less pent up, more act of release, the solution not the question, and - ironically - act, don't think. The image it generates is more of a chase, making snap decisions to escape. The cognitive dissonance between the image I get from the music and the content of the chorus lyric is a minor barrier, and does not impede my enjoyment of the tune.

It comes to a rather abrupt stop though and the last couple of tracks are less energetic. The sense of misanthropy returns with Blue Movie, which makes me picture a broken society living in run down neighbourhoods rather than anything even remotely sexy despite the obvious pornography references in title and lyrics. The whole piece falls flat for me, and there I must refrain from making poor taste jokes given the lyrical content. Why Amazon, from whence I pulled the track list, had the last track as "Crazes" not "Grazes" I don't know, but such things are easily corrected. This track I like despite it not having the urgency, the energy or the power of the higher tempo tracks. There is still a spirit of injustice and an air of hurt in the vocal, but the music is lighter. It remains grounded where M'Aidez floated a bit too much, a solid central structure and return to less open lines forgiving the somewhat overwrought soaring in the vocal come the chorus. I had forgotten the sonic discomfort that followed the first chorus, but it serves to offset the looseness in the long syllables and held notes. Its the simple but catchy percussion that sells the track though - strong enough to come through and create the structure, but light enough not to dominate the parts laid over it.

Overall? It's not quite the string of stellar tunes that I perhaps considered it a decade ago, but I still really like parts of it. They feel appropriate, they engender strong responses. The weak points are less forgivable than they were, and I still reckon it isn't a patch on Splinter, but it will be years before I get to cover that on this project and who knows... by then I'll probably have forgotten the whole bloody disc or only like Country or something. There is no such thing as a fair comparison in this space.

Blood Speaks - Smoke Fairies

Track list:

1. Let Me Know
2. Awake
3. The Three of Us
4. Daylight
5. Blood Speaks
6. Take Me Down When You Go
7. Feel It Coming Near
8. Hideaway
9. Version of the Future
10. Film Reel

Running time: 43 minutes
Released: 2012

Hmm, I guess it must be three years since I last went to a festival then, if this came out in 2012. I say that, because I am pretty sure I picked this up of the back of Latitude that year, and a quick Google suggests - thanks to preservations of the lineup - that I am right. God, that makes me feel old.

The musical structure that kicks us off is interesting, lush rounded sounds that sound pretty good this Sunday morning. Alas it is spoiled some when the vocal comes in and obliterates the fullness, puncturing it by dominating and, in my opinion, not fitting with what was there at all. When the track returns to instrumental the interest returns; completely frustrating this, there is a lot to like but it is placed behind a screen of disinterest. Is that going to be a pattern?

The vocal is less immediately irritating on Awake, so hopefully it was a specific confluence of factors. Here the loopy themes are integrated better with the voice, at least until the two singers harmonise - then they push out the accompaniment again. Normally I like a good harmony but here I don't feel either of the singing voices on exhibit are particularly good. I am definitely more drawn to the atmospheric guitars, wrapping around like smoke in a burning room, enveloping the ear, so things that detract from that are damaging to my appreciation of the track. This is definitely better than Let Me Know, though so there is hope.

Engaging guitar swells are the defining feature here. It isn't something that normally grabs me, but there is something attractive about these riffs. There is something PJ Harvey-like about The Three of Us and it is better again. If each track continues to improve on the last, by the end of the disc it will be seriously good. I find myself listening more closely, and then pull back to the observer's view that allows me to type as well. The reason? The interest falls down on closer scrutiny - there is too much repetition in the structuring of the lines to stand a determined inspection, but the fact the atmosphere is created by repeats is secondary to the nature of the atmosphere itself on first contact. I prefer the latter position here.

The pattern of constant improvement is broken, alas. Daylight is so utterly bland that my mind wanders off and by the time I re-focus to start describing why I dislike it it has finished and I never have to listen to it again. The title track also does not grab me much - it seems to have ditched the strongest parts of the earlier songs, putting far more emphasis on the vocals. It does manage to create a bit of tone, a full shimmering sound accompanies the lyrics, but I can't escape the fact that I really don't rate either of the Smoke Fairies as singers when the vocal is placed so front and centre as it is here. That it then descends into repeating one (nonsensical) line over and over just seals its fate. Get out! At least the hooks come back when it ends, but I wonder if this couplet have soured me.

I'm sat here with a peppermint tea in dirty (painting) clothes. Not because I have been or will be painting, but because today is all about cleaning. This listen was supposed to be my "me time" - to make me feel human between extracting myself from my bed and getting on with the business of the day. I could have done with a positive impression to kickstart the chores but so far I am cutting more than I shall keep. There are little nuggets of pleasantness in and around these tunes and I can see why I might have enjoyed a live set and been prompted to pick it up, but there are too many low points to go along with that and since The Three of Us those weaker moments have overrun and outnumbered the positives. Tracks four through seven all for the chop.

I feel like Hideaway is the album in a nutshell. Interestingly rich guitar gives brief hope to begin with, then a voice stretched way past its ability to be musical tramps in and ruins all sense of enjoyment. The track then evolves and the voice integrates better as it goes, but so does the interest in the tune wane. Ultimately it is a disappointment. I could get a similar vibe from Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea without the weak points. Much as I love that album, not many things make me actively think "I wish I was listening to PJ instead".

I am more enamoured of Version of the Future for some reason. The track just holds together a little better I think - the vocal is much improved and whilst we don't have the warm enveloping richness in the backing that we had on the early tracks there is just enough there to give it a sense of place and purpose. The improvement in the singing is unreal - earlier it felt like they were straining, aiming at some kind of waifish vision, haunting. Here its a much more "normal" singing voice and suddenly it doesn't annoy me or try to be something it isn't. Alas they don't persist in that vain and the ethereal attempts are restored for the final track, and with it my sense of being let down. The atmosphere is "nice" on Film Reel, but it is uncontextualised noodling which means it feels like a teenager sat in their room feeling sorry for themselves more than something that should actually have been recorded. This purchase was a mistake.

Blood Money - Tom Waits

Track list:

1. Misery Is The River Of The World
2. Everything Goes to Hell
3. Coney Island Baby
4. All the World Is Green
5. God's Away On Business
6. Another Man's Vine
7. Knife Chase (Instrumental)
8. Lullaby
9. Starving In The Belly Of A Whale
10. The Part You Throw Away
11. Woe
12. Calliope ( instrumental )
13. A Good Man is Hard to Find

Running time: 37 minutes
Released: 2002

Blood Money was released along with Alice, or darn close to it at least. I don't think it is in the same league as its companion, but there are a couple of tracks that jump out simply from the names.

The first of those is our opener. Misery is the River of the World isn't exactly a phrase that trips off the tongue of most people but Waits carries it off with aplomb. Like Alice, this is tumbledown, vaudeville, tarnished - and yet the value of what lies underneath is clear. There is nothing tuneful about the song but it is utterly compelling, an insistent stomping accompanying Waits gruff intonation over a miscellany of other sounds. Atmospheric. Intense... but not quite Alice, you know? The connection between the releases makes that thought unshakable and it is unfortunate because it does this part of our troubadour's output a disservice.

Everything Goes to Hell is not in the same league for compulsion. It shares a lot of characteristics with what came before, and has a sense of place and understated appeal about it, but simply not as strong. It does fully conjure images of dirty cramped alleyways and rats scuttling away from tramps coming out of tents though, so it is with some relief that we divert into Coney Island Baby with its slightly off-key piano and Waits in disheveled crooner mode, a trick he pulls off wonderfully. This song is far more melodic than the prior two, but no less redolent of decay - like a seaside town that hasn't seen a visitor in a decade. There is a weariness and a melancholy, but also a refusal to simply lay down and die - opening up each day in case this is the one that the hordes return.

I really, really, like the imagery - I find it really satisfying in its vividness.

All the World is Green is an uplifting title, and my recollection is that the chorus is similarly positive, so I am surprised when the main musical theme that kicks it off is almost as dark as that on Misery is the River of the World. Its funny what we recall and what we forget, even about the same darn thing. I tell you now that I am remembering that I like this album. I really do not recall what prompted me to pick up this pair of discs and start collecting Waits, but I am so glad I did. He is amongst my most listened to if you believe LastFM - in the top 10 - and yet... it feels like I never really progressed past listening to this and to Alice.

Another Man's Vine is the first track that is not familiar when it begins, and it has a sleaziness to it, dispensing with some of the grime and decay for a salubrious tone, suggestive horns. Truly, is there anyone other than Waits who can conjure visualisations so strongly through a tune? At that point I am broken out of my thought pattern by realising I needed to adjust the track list, which was missing the horrificly tense Knife Chase for some reason. As if to counter the spiky danger of the chase, Lullaby arrives, just proving that Waits, despite the gravel in his larynx, can soothe as well as he can suggest. That said the song feels like a repeat of No-one Knows I'm Gone.

Starving in the Belly of a Whale is something else. Gruff, insistent and incessant, and that's before we hit the chorus where the repetition of the title is really magnetic. It is not a song that is comfortable to listen to but it is majestic as a tour de force - dragging you along behind it like a rider fallen from his panicked horse trapped in the stirrups and reins. As much as I am surprised that Tom Waits is quite so high up my list of most listened to artists (I suppose his prolific nature and sizable back catalog help him surface in shuffles), it is precisely this kind of grab-you-by-the-scruff type number that typifies his appeal.

The disc ends with a couple of short numbers - interludes really, though they are not referred to as such - squeezed in before the closer. A Good Man is Hard to Find is a lovely tune, and for once here Waits' distinctive vocal may not necessarily be the best to sit alongside the muted melody. It's not bad (after all, if you like Waits at all you would never call his voice bad; if you don't like him you'd be justified to say "the man can't sing!" at this juncture), but not quite as made for the composition somehow. The tone of this final track is upbeat and I think that is where the disconnect comes in. I find myself distracted for what feels like a second, and then jarred by the silence. The track has ended and so has the listen.

Blood and Honey - The Devil's Interval

Track list:

1. Green Valley
2. Silver Dagger
3. Studying Economy
4. The Leaves of Life
5. The Well Below the Valley
6. Two Crows
7. The Bonfire Carol
8. A May Carol
9. Down Among the Dead Men
10. The Cuckoo
11. Long Lankin
12. The Midsummer Carol
13. Blow Me Jack

Running time: 47 minutes
Released: 2006

So this is quite a shift, from synth-laden soundtrack to pretty much unaccompanied folk singing. I suspect that I won't have much time for this in practice but I was intrigued with the idea, which is why I own this.

The harmony between the trio is reasonable enough, though I find Jim Causley's  voice is a bit of a taste that I am yet to acquire. I must admit that I can't remember what I thought of Mawkin:Causley's The Awkward Recruit, but a quick scan suggests I killed a number of the tunes from it and I suspect his voice contributed to that some.

It isn't that he can't sing - far from it. Rather he has a very distinctive sound and this really works for some songs and not so well for others. I much prefer Silver Dagger to Green Valley here, because the tone and tempo of the song makes better use of his intonation. The harmonies here are much tighter too and it has my hairs stood on end in places. The tune is slower and more suited to the a cappella rendition, unlike what follows which is a much more modern song and much more loosely fitting together and then ends abruptly and without craft.

The Leaves of Life returns to a more resonant harmony, Causley providing a bass that really sets off the voices of his colleagues, Emily Portman and Lauren McCormick. The tune then wanders away from that tightness which is unfortunate. When the trio are in concert the depth and richness of their combination is quite something, when that structure breaks down I find myself really missing some kind of backing music. I am, however, finding this more interesting than I was expecting to and for that I am glad. When they get it right it is electrifying - but that rightness requires the correct song and rhythmic roll. The lack of accompaniment means the cadence of the lyrics makes a huge impact on how the tracks come across. Giving enough space for the voices to truly hold and resonate is important, as is varying enough to keep the ear tracking something.

The first instrument (that I have picked up) is a squeezebox of some kind on Two Crows. It has the odd effect of making it feel out of place, cliched and slightly trite. The song itself doesn't help there, if feels fuddy-duddy somehow. Folk as it was seen a couple of decades back before the revival. I don't much like it - and after missing the backing in earlier tracks, too!

My gut feeling is that this is the kind of album that if you catch it at the right time will truly sing but probably needs to be consumed in some sort of deliberate manner rather than having tunes pop up in a random shuffle. The unaccompanied nature makes this decidedly different from almost anything else I have and that stark change of nature can (not will, but can) completely break a sense of place. Here, knowing what I was coming in to, I have been pleasantly surprised by how approachable most of the disc is. I am only half way through, but this is one of the successes of this project - precisely the kind of thing that I would unthinkingly skip and miss out on had I not manufactured a reason to actually appreciate it, to the point that I find the next point an instrument is introduced also detracts from the experience.

Tonight I fit this in after an unexpected day at home, and prior to a long weekend. Today I had pest controllers in to take care of a wasp nest that I found in my attic. In November - it's been warmer than normal. Not a great couple of days after working long into the evening on phone calls the night before and finding the nest. I find myself not enjoying Down Among the Dead Men - something about how the trio combine here leaves me cold, an effect compounded by really not liking their approach to the chorus - it just does not flow well for me, an effect that rolls over into the following song, though The Cuckoo is at least a bit more melodic. The problem is that it is largely dull with none of the highlight combinations from our trio of singers.

Maybe its me. Maybe my mood has shifted somehow, because Long Lankin is leaving me similarly detached and sceptical. Here, weirdly, I like the use of instrumentation more, less stereotyped, more supportive and better aligned to the song, subservient to the singers but bridging the verses for them in an apt way. My feet have got cold, perhaps that is what has turned my mood. I've tucked them up to warm them in an attempt to improve things for the last couple of tracks. I suffer like this a lot - I have terrible circulation in my feet and winter nights can be uncomfortable getting to sleep.

The move seems to have worked, or more likely the music just got more to my taste or, dare I say it, to the expectation I had built up over the first half of the album. The Midsummer Carol is something I should almost certainly lift and put on whilst playing Albion but I have long since abandoned taking the laptop to sessions in order to provide a soundtrack. Nevermind.

The final track is a throwaway number that half feels familiar - I am sure it shares some crossover with something I have heard in a Bellowhead song, though I can't place it fully at this moment. Its not as bad as my first impression suggested, but it is a weak ending all the same to a disc that had some pretty high points.

Blade Runner Official Soundtrack - Vangelis

Track list:

1. Main Titles
2. Blush Response
3. Wait For Me
4. Rachel's Song
5. Love Theme
6. One More Kiss, Dear
7. Blade Runner Blues
8. Memories Of Green
9. Tales Of The Future
10. Damask Rose
11. Blade Runner (End Titles)
12. Tears In Rain

Running time: 57 minutes
Released: 1994

What to say about this? Blade Runner has been a favourite movie of mine since I first saw it (I don't really watch many films, mind), and Vangelis's iconic soundtrack is a major part of that. I am surprised at the release date of 1994, but a quick Google suggests that the soundtrack released along with the film in 1982 was not this one.

The Main Titles is overlaid by Deckard's search for the animal scale, then you get the sparkly breaker, the tinny shimmer and then the long drawn out synth notes. Far more hopeful than the depressing rain-soaked city-scape they accompany, but certainly infused (if only by association) with that sense of wonder and weirdness. I have been playing Cities: Skylines recently, and could imagine playing along to this whilst building a high rise district.

Blush Response has the dialogue from when Deckard first meets Rachel. Voight-Kampf for short and all that. When the speech fades that electric melody kicks in and shivers go up my spine. It really is quite astounding how well this holds up 30 years on. It is on the one hand so incredibly dated - the synths are very very eighties - but on the other utterly timeless. The percussive base could come out of modern electronica, snappy and tinged with darkness. The fact the movie is a classic (I almost added "cult" but that would be a disservice) that stands up in many ways certainly helps keep the soundtrack feeling fresh rather than tied to its time. I am less than wild about how the track ends and fades over into Wait For Me, but once the transition is complete the new track is a gorgeous change of tone. Softer and gentler - it is pretty much the quintessential Vangelis track. It could come from 1492, or Voices or any number of his releases if it wasn't part of this one. Solid central theme, loose movements around it, layers of synths with hidden depths - its easy to overlook the horns here in places, for instance. Its just wonderfully peaceful. 

I am surprised and disappointed by how few of the tracks I can recall musically from title alone. Rachel's Song drew a complete blank for me even after it started, until the voice enters the fray. Used as instrument not as lyrical conduit it has a haunting effect. The track as a whole is mournful, slow and emotional. I don't recall its usage. I am suddenly feeling lonely. It has absolutely nothing to do with the painfully isolated saxophone on Love Theme at all, no. I suppose if I squint I can see this being a soft and loving piece, but it feels more paean to lost love than a celebration of an existing one. When the sax fades away the sparse and starry feel of the theme continues that lonely sense, the notes twinkling like in a big open night sky before a spooky edge emerges to add tension. Love is about the furthest thing in my visceral response to the track. But there is tenderness there, hence the see it if I squint, and I suppose it plays to sleazy late night bars post-closing in 40s-50s, a couple sat along at the bar or in a booth in a closed club. A stretch though.

I have always loved One More Kiss. The wandering piano, the pedestrian strumming, the slightly-too-high feel to the singing of this song just create a lovely if crumbling image of a utopia out of reach. It is incredibly fitting in more ways than one.

It is replaced by Blade Runner Blues. Musically this has very little in common with Blues. It is very blue though... plaintive (a word I feel I probably overuse in these posts, but one I rather like) to the point of making my hairs stand on end, slowing down the evening which has passed far too quickly, and without me having any proper food. Too late to think of that now, though... and I have the wonders of working long to look forward to tomorrow too. Yay. The piece of music is an interesting ramble, perhaps most reminiscent of Soil Festivities amongst Vangelis' other works. I find it hard to listen to and concentrate on too much, better as background music, and yet almost 9 minutes pass without a dull moment. Quite something. It smoothly transitions into another sad piece, the doleful (I looked up synonyms for plaintive, alright!) tone of these tunes complementing the tumbledown, shabby city whose images they belong with, a pairing that is further enhanced by the whirring and beeping sounds.

I had forgotten just how dark some of this album is. There is nothing peaceful about Tales of the Future, an echoing, modulated vocal almost screeching out with the effect of nails on a chalkboard. This turns what would be an atmospheric but forgettable backing track into an electric but threatening number. I have no idea what is being said, if anything and so it is just the harshness of the intonation that sticks with me.  The straining strings that begin Damask Rose are as potent now as they ever were. Along with the preceding track these two seem to cover the "ethnic" angle of life in the LA of 2019 that is depicted, but it is otherwise very weak in comparison with the rest of the disc.

I have, in the past, fallen asleep listening to these tracks, only to be jolted awake by the end titles. I don't say that to disparage it at all. They are anything but boring. Here again they jolt me. The fast pace is anathema to what has been before and the timpani have a sense of purpose that re-enforce that. The tone is so different to the rest of the soundtrack, but is perfectly suited to the situation at the end of the film with Deckard and Rachel to be on the run. It has a real tension to it which is not something you automatically associate with end titles, where in most cases things have been resolved away from the tense, for better or worse.

Rutger Hauer's classic monologue is an integral part to Tears in Rain, our final tune. I love the sparse melody behind his lines here and the unexpected strains of hope in the composition, at odds with almost all that went before. It is a quiet ending, a postscript really, but it is an affirmative one that changes the take-away emotion from the listen quite dramatically. The running order looks off at first, to have the end titles not close the soundtrack, but it is an inspired choice, and precisely the kind of small detail that makes you want to hear the thing again almost straight away. I really like this disc.