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| Track list: 1. Phantom Power 2. Gentle Morning Song 3. Desolation 4. Chromatics 5. You Can Talk To Me 6. Shapes 7. Dirty Broken Bliss 8. Serpent 9. The Light And The Noise 10. Brain 11. Just A Hair´s Breadth Running time: 41 minutes Released: 2015 |
Diagrams' follow up to Black Light never gelled with me, I think I played it once and didn't go back. It does have a cool name though, and now I get to visit it again.
It opens with space-y sounds that give way quickly to a riffy guitar, and Sam Genders' voice, distant but comforting. The guitar fades into the other sounds a bit, and there is a whistling chorus after the first verse that seems a little... odd. For all that though, it has an easily relatable rhythm and Genders is a genial vocalist. There is something about his tones that pulls you in. The construction of the piece leaves me a little cold and flat in other ways though. The whistling does not work, and what was a strong riff to begin with dulls fast against the samey backing. I find the word "bland" coming to mind - a sense that carries over into Gentle Morning Song. I feel like the vocal deserves a little more life from the composition.
I am inside on a warm and sunny April day; this is a failure in itself - though I do have a fair few items on my agenda. I have been reading RPG systems, writing cheat sheets ahead of a GMing stint. This effort has left me feeling like anything but going out on the bike, which is really what I ought to be doing right now. Instead I sit here with a mint tea, an arched back and an album that has yet to offer up anything particularly noteworthy (though some distortion effects at the end of the second track half raise my eyebrows).
Desolation offers some hope. There is a touch more purpose in this, some contrasting tones, a nice fuzz to the bass. Genders is again distant, it seems to be a deliberate effect but it works for him. The track gives me the impression that it might be better through headphones - it feels like being constrained inside the sound would set it off. Coming out of my small speaker it's nice, but lacks a certain power. I can see it in there though - which is more than I could say for the first two tracks. Ironically, given its name, the track shines like a beacon in amongst some pretty nondescript offerings. The title track starts interesting but very quickly settles into an unsatisfying pattern that feels unambitious.
I find myself lost for words that aren't written as a track-by-track, using some time to go back and look at what I wrote about Black Light. It's not very illuminating. I describe Sam Genders as genial in a paragraph above - he really is. His tones are musical, his delivery clear, and he handles different rhythms nicely - always pushed back, further away from the listener than the various sounds that swirl around, but do not envelop, his lyrics. Its a shame there isn't a little more here to back him up. There is none of the punchy style that supported songs like Night All Night, which made it the Diagrams tune that jumps into my head when I think of the band.
As I started that sentence the track ticked over to Dirty Broken Bliss, which has a bit more character to it, a nice change of pace and form, a better contrast between the vocal and the backing. Unfortunately it then settles for being a simple repetitive pop song rather than seeking to really use the nice dynamic it establishes as a base for something more, but it is still a significant step up.
I can see exactly why I bounced off this album when I bought it - I note I referred to disappointment with it in the Black Light post. It teases interest but fails to deliver on it. It has strong points, but they are suborned to the weaker parts of it rather than the other way around. It is very flat. Moreover it doesn't really have a style. The only common thread seems to be the distance effect on the vocal; musically it veers between darker, fuzzier bass on the more impactful tracks and light 60s pop-ish sounds on others. The Light and the Noise in particular has a superficiality, a glib twang to it that turns me right off.
A slower number, Brain actually has a bit more character. I am not sure I like it, but it is different and stands out in a way that the majority of the preceding tracks simply failed to do. It opens up and flattens out as it goes, conforming more to the pattern set by the rest, but despite that retains a certain amount of charm, precisely because it did dare to be different up front. That difference returns to close the track out, too - essentially book ending a short track with sounds that actually make you pay attention to it. Alas the final track tries to repeat the "slower is more interesting" feat and ends up being mawkish and trite... the most interesting thing about it being the way it ends rather abruptly. A bold choice, that doesn't quite pay off.
I have to say I am not at all impressed with this offering. I was expecting it to be so-so, given I remembered being disappointed when I bought it, but I would go so far as to say it is actively bad for the most part. Why? Because despite having a really, really solid vocal throughout, it somehow manages to detract from that with bland tunes that deaden its impact. It really couldn't shake that first impression.
It opens with space-y sounds that give way quickly to a riffy guitar, and Sam Genders' voice, distant but comforting. The guitar fades into the other sounds a bit, and there is a whistling chorus after the first verse that seems a little... odd. For all that though, it has an easily relatable rhythm and Genders is a genial vocalist. There is something about his tones that pulls you in. The construction of the piece leaves me a little cold and flat in other ways though. The whistling does not work, and what was a strong riff to begin with dulls fast against the samey backing. I find the word "bland" coming to mind - a sense that carries over into Gentle Morning Song. I feel like the vocal deserves a little more life from the composition.
I am inside on a warm and sunny April day; this is a failure in itself - though I do have a fair few items on my agenda. I have been reading RPG systems, writing cheat sheets ahead of a GMing stint. This effort has left me feeling like anything but going out on the bike, which is really what I ought to be doing right now. Instead I sit here with a mint tea, an arched back and an album that has yet to offer up anything particularly noteworthy (though some distortion effects at the end of the second track half raise my eyebrows).
Desolation offers some hope. There is a touch more purpose in this, some contrasting tones, a nice fuzz to the bass. Genders is again distant, it seems to be a deliberate effect but it works for him. The track gives me the impression that it might be better through headphones - it feels like being constrained inside the sound would set it off. Coming out of my small speaker it's nice, but lacks a certain power. I can see it in there though - which is more than I could say for the first two tracks. Ironically, given its name, the track shines like a beacon in amongst some pretty nondescript offerings. The title track starts interesting but very quickly settles into an unsatisfying pattern that feels unambitious.
I find myself lost for words that aren't written as a track-by-track, using some time to go back and look at what I wrote about Black Light. It's not very illuminating. I describe Sam Genders as genial in a paragraph above - he really is. His tones are musical, his delivery clear, and he handles different rhythms nicely - always pushed back, further away from the listener than the various sounds that swirl around, but do not envelop, his lyrics. Its a shame there isn't a little more here to back him up. There is none of the punchy style that supported songs like Night All Night, which made it the Diagrams tune that jumps into my head when I think of the band.
As I started that sentence the track ticked over to Dirty Broken Bliss, which has a bit more character to it, a nice change of pace and form, a better contrast between the vocal and the backing. Unfortunately it then settles for being a simple repetitive pop song rather than seeking to really use the nice dynamic it establishes as a base for something more, but it is still a significant step up.
I can see exactly why I bounced off this album when I bought it - I note I referred to disappointment with it in the Black Light post. It teases interest but fails to deliver on it. It has strong points, but they are suborned to the weaker parts of it rather than the other way around. It is very flat. Moreover it doesn't really have a style. The only common thread seems to be the distance effect on the vocal; musically it veers between darker, fuzzier bass on the more impactful tracks and light 60s pop-ish sounds on others. The Light and the Noise in particular has a superficiality, a glib twang to it that turns me right off.
A slower number, Brain actually has a bit more character. I am not sure I like it, but it is different and stands out in a way that the majority of the preceding tracks simply failed to do. It opens up and flattens out as it goes, conforming more to the pattern set by the rest, but despite that retains a certain amount of charm, precisely because it did dare to be different up front. That difference returns to close the track out, too - essentially book ending a short track with sounds that actually make you pay attention to it. Alas the final track tries to repeat the "slower is more interesting" feat and ends up being mawkish and trite... the most interesting thing about it being the way it ends rather abruptly. A bold choice, that doesn't quite pay off.
I have to say I am not at all impressed with this offering. I was expecting it to be so-so, given I remembered being disappointed when I bought it, but I would go so far as to say it is actively bad for the most part. Why? Because despite having a really, really solid vocal throughout, it somehow manages to detract from that with bland tunes that deaden its impact. It really couldn't shake that first impression.
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