Pyre - Darren Korb

Track list:

1. In the Flame
2. Downriver
3. Downside Ballad
4. Path to Glory
5. Life Sentence
6. Surviving Exile
7. Forbidden Knowledge
8. Moon-Touched
9. Through the Valley
10. Night Howlers
11. The Herald
12. Mourning Song
13. The Eight Scribes
14. Glorious Tradition
15. Flutter Fly
16. Thrash Pack
17. A Step Closer
18. Dirty Deal
19. Sinking Feeling
20. Dread Design
21. Snake Soul
22. Strange Voyage
23. Quest for Honor
24. Knights of the Sea
25. Vagrant Song
26. Shattered Lands
27. Talon Sheath
28. Sky Dance
29. Certain Plan
30. Grand Ceremony
31. To the Stars
32. The Old Ways
33. Never to Return
34. Time Passes
35. The Blackwagon
36. Rage of Demons
37. Will of the Scribes
38. New Union
39. Bound Together

Running time: 110 minutes
Released: 2017

So I am going to break the chain here and jump forward a long way for this post. Why? Because I have just finished playing through the Pyre campaign and I have the feeling that this listen might be more relevant in closer proximity to to my having played the game. 

I loved Darren Korb's score for Bastion and was very struck by the music for Transistor too, so I bought the Pyre soundtrack when the game first came out last year. I didn't buy the game until last week, though it was always on my "to do" list. Whilst actually playing Pyre I didn't really notice the music that much - unlike the other two games where it was a key plank of the experience. I think that is probably because I didn't get on with much of the gameplay so I was furiously trying to get through it ASAP to experience the story elements. I will probably dip in and out of relaying some game commentary here, but that isn't a priority here.

This is a long one - almost 2 hours. I might break it up; we'll see,

The opening song, for it is such, is the story of the Rites that you perform in the game, lyrics speak to the nature of the goal in the gameplay, the situation the narrative focuses on. I'm not a huge fan of this approach. The voices work well enough together but the music lacks the immediate connection of Korb's previous two soundtracks somehow - perhaps because it is in service to the song here, not doing it's own thing. This soundtrack is a mix of songs and little in game themes - typified in the opening couplet with one of each.

Downside Ballad is a much more promising track, with time to establish an atmosphere - a sort of distant and sombre one - and a sound that builds nicely. I find I cannot place it within the game, but I think this is actually a positive. It is a slow, peaceful number - pleasant without ever really drawing me into full engagement. It is not, however, a ballad.

Ah, now. The first sounds that really hark back to the richer tapestry and unique flavour of  the previous soundtracks. All clicks, whirs and electricity. Path to Glory brings some urgency, some greater tone, deeper sounds and a busy nature. More of this please! It's not that the slower tunes lack character, but that they don't really offer the same kind of experience as music. The keyboards sometimes have a kind of tinny, chiming sound to them which I find destroys the atmosphere that the notes might otherwise create. What really struck me about Bastion was how it was just good music that happened to be game music. Here I feel it is more clearly supporting the game, and less a statement in its own right; I am not sure it is quite as effective. 

As mentioned above I didn't really clock the music so much whilst playing, but it is only fair to say that composing for games should place the game first and foremost, so complaining that this doesn't necessarily work as well removed from its context is not an entirely fair criticism. However moreso than I remember either of the other soundtracks doing, this disappeared for me in play. Now outside of that context it is up and down.

I think, though, that it is growing on me. The longer pieces, at least - where Korb has enough time to really grow into his themes. Or, no... it's the higher energy pieces that work for me more. There is a correlation there. I would imagine that the longer tracks are largely those played during the Rites, the 3-a-side not really sports strategy game that forms the meat of Pyre's play time. I've probably heard most of them a lot over the past week, as I plodded through, without taking them in. I was focused on making the damn things finish as fast as I could because I found them tedious and un-fun. Pyre is a game where I really liked the characters and some of the writing but where much else - the Rites, the presentation of the story - fell very flat for me.

I do not see myself building a connection to these tracks in the way that I have with Korb's other work.

I think what maybe sets Pyre apart so far is that it doesn't draw me in or establish that immediate connection. There is good richness and depth in the work here, but it doesn't strike me as something to sit and listen to... it is a bit more detached than that. It's "nice" but not demanding, not attention grabbing. Less big and bold on the whole than Bastion, not as resonant or emotional as Transistor. Of course, by the time I get to Transistor - if I get that far! - I will likely have forgotten the game and its context altogether, which is kinda sad; I'm not sure when I played through it, but it came out a few months before this project started. Steam says I bought it in November 2014 when I was actually managing a good turnover of posts and had designs on, y'know, actually making it through everything. Two and a half years later I'm still on C!

Thrash Pack has energy, but this one leaves me cold. I'm not a big guitar hero fan. Whilst screaming guitars can be great, I find most of the time I bounce off and there needs to be something more to it. Here it's a bit too American garage rock bank for my taste; it's someone's kinda thing and more power to them, but it isn't mine.

Hearing the tunes playing back now, it is funny how they can be so familiar, and yet simultaneously I cannot place them in the context of the game I only finished last night. I cannot bring to mind the screen or screens associated with each piece very easily. I get the impression from the track list and the vague voice at the back of my skull that we are progressing through the first pass of the game, meeting each of the opposing triumvirates in turn, their theme and their Rite accompaniment. Because I disliked the Rites themselves so much I never clocked whether it was a tune for each opponent or a tune for each arena. I did recognise certain themes though, or thought I did. I'll find out a bit later into this listen...

I mind my thoughts on the game are already scrambled. Dread Design is a very familiar track, and I relate it to a particular opponent very strongly, but I still can't quite work out if it was attached to the enemy or the place I first met them... I think the former.

Strange Voyage carries a jauntiness that I remember really liking in game, too. It's one of the tracks that actually does have an immediate connection for me, despite being on the more pastoral end of the spectrum. Jaunty but relaxed, then. The sound though is big and bold, so while it is clearly a "downtime" piece it is much more engaging for the big riffs. The name has connotations of travel - one of the parts of the game I did really like was the movement around between the different locations, different styles of backdrop, overlaying each other in a pleasing way as you hopped around. The first time in the Sea of Solis area was one of my highlights from gameplay.

The naval jauntiness is part of the Knights of the Sea, the Pyrehearts. Probably the most frustrating of all opponents in the game for me, but their theme - and this is clearly their theme - was one of the pieces that stood out immediately when I heard it in game. I am pleased to find it as enjoyable removed from the context. The rolling nature of the rhythm is just gorgeous, and whilst the brilliant light riff that opens the tune gets somewhat swallowed by the build up of rich textured sounds the piece as a whole still works.

One area where Korb shines is in making low, bassy guitar riffs sing. He gives them a resonance, a big deep sound, creating a crucible for his other sounds. It would be trite to call it "twangy" but there is certainly a swagger or twang to his best basslines which is essential to the DNA of his tracks, and a key ingredient in making his work stand out and be recognised. 

Still 11 tracks to go and this is starting to feel a little bit of a marathon as I am aware of the time passed, and that yet to come. However I am certainly appreciating the tracks more now, having grasped the tone of them better through exposure. That isn't to say they're all great and I am now elevating this soundtrack above his others, but that I am more able to see it for itself and less in comparison to past work. 

The bassiness that I like in Korb's work does tend to push the tracks to darker sounds, and when he tries to lighten the mood over a base built from bass I sometimes feel as though there is a fundamental conflict within the tune, as if it is fighting to go two different ways at once. Contrast can be a very effective tool in all the arts, but just occasionally it feels as though it is all getting away from him a bit. 

I feel like I am throwing unconnected thoughts together rather than making coherent points. That's probably been the case for longer than I would care to admit with these posts. As they happen less frequently the lessons learned in the past are fading, and every paragraph turns into a throwaway thought, like this one.

It's always good to know your flaws, but it's not meant to be so that you can live down to them!

I was slightly surprised (I'm not sure why) to find that the male voice in the songs is Korb's own. The female voice is Ashley Barrett, whose tones I recognised immediately since she was key to the appeal of Transistor. They work well together and whilst I am not necessarily convinced of the songwriting, I can't really fault the approach of the male/female duet. So far, though, whilst the tracks have grown on me I don't think there's anything here that I am likely to dive straight for, to actively decide to play again.

It feels quite sudden, to be in the final stretch. I couldn't say the same for the gameplay experience. That seemed to drag out longer than it needed to, with doing anything taking more button presses and more screens than it should in order to see the better part of the content - the static art, the writing. Here I look up and find just 2 tracks left. I'm not quite sure where the latter third of the album as gone... reading back up the page there isn't that much I have written; did I zone out? Unsure. 

The final track is placed over the credits, unsurprisingly. It plays as a camera pans over an image representing all of the characters that make up your group in the game. It is another song that chronicles what happened, naming them one by one and giving a one line summary. I don't find it makes for a compelling song at all... which is a shame because the reason for this approach is embedded in game content, two minstrels form part of the ritual around the Rites and watching, recording and recounting is clearly a theme. It could have been a powerful ending, but unfortunately the actual song they came up with to represent this is rather weak, the contrived nature of its form and the prominence of the lyrics disappoints.

Like the game itself, the Pyre soundtrack is a little bit of a let-down. Not because it's not good, but because it's not great. There are some familiar grooves, crests and peaks in there, but there is also material here that doesn't work too well - though not quite to the extent that I will ditch anything though.

Alterum - Julie Fowlis

Track list:
   
1. A Phiuthrag 's a Phiuthar
2. Camariñas
3. Fear a' Bhrochain / Dòmhnall Binn
4. Dh'èirich Mi Moch, b' Fheàrr Nach Do Dh'èirich
5. Go Your Way
6. Dh'èirich Mi Moch Madainn Cheòthar
7. Windward Away
8. Thèid Mi Do Loch Àlainn
9. Òran an Ròin
10. An Aghaidh Fàilte Na Mòr-Thìr
11. Cearcall Mun Ghealaich

Running time: 45 minutes
Released: 2017

New release time. First listen. All the usual caveats.

I wrote that line a long time back, when this dropped through my door and got elevated to next in line. As seems to be customary these days, I have to preface this post with excuses for not having been productive on the project front - a combination of illness, tiredness, a busy life and, if I am honest, prioritizing other things over listens. I'm going to try to squeeze in two this Thanksgiving... whilst I am in the UK I am taking these 2 days as holiday as all my US colleagues are out and I had days left to take this year.

Right, that done, on to it.

Julie Fowlis' voice is charming though I don't understand a word of her songs, the Scots Gaelic impenetrable to my ear. It comes across as a lyrical language, but then that could just be the context. After all, putting words to song is going to exhibit the more lyrical aspects of a language more often than not. The first tune is a gentle strummed core, backing strings and a lilting, swaying rhythm with natural swells and long held notes. Entirely pleasant, but nothing to get excited about.

I am not used to this - my back is complaining about my posture sat up and forward at the keys, hunched over slightly. Another little challenge I guess. The music on is now more stripped back, the lush backing of the swells from the opening number replaced with a more lonely string line. I found the first track more engaging somehow... more soothing. Here the duet worked but also it rather obscured Fowlis' tones, and I buy her music for two things: 

1. Upbeat folk tunes
2. Her wonderful voice

Thankfully both are in evidence on the third track, which has the tone and tempo of a dance tune and a clearly sung main vocal. There is sunshine through broken clouds in these sounds, images of mountains and islands and a cool but lovely summers evening's light. Yes, tunes like this are stereotypical, but they are so for a reason. Not all stereotypes are bad, and most are rooted in some level of reality - if exaggerated for effect. The jigs, reels, tunes and songs of the isles are a pretty well defined body of work, and to me, a soft southerner working in tech, with no aptitude for country living but an admiration for it (I spend many a Sunday evening with Countryfile, for some reason!), they paint an idyllic (and unrealistic) picture of the beauty of that kind of existence. 

Ah, now we get a number in English and whilst the singer's voice is clearly the same, some of the magic is lost. Yes, it's still a fantastic voice, warm and inviting, but the mystery of the foreign tongue is gone, and I find that it takes a little away from the experience. Why should that be? Well, I guess it's a form of "othering" the songs, but whereas that is usually used in a negative light, here the other is part of what appeals. A sense that this is not my music or heritage, but one I am lucky enough to have been exposed to. I dunno. I am so out of practice with these posts that I suspect the flow of thoughts that I find myself with now is 99% crap and 1% flim-flam. 

So far so good though. A couple of ups and downs but the disc is pretty much what I would have expected, what I wanted from it. I'd like a couple more of the pacier tunes where Fowlis is able to convey an impish sense of fun and joy but I suspect that is just me looking back to the point when I first came across her work with a sense of nostalgia and ossification. I have definitely noticed myself being less enchanted by new things of late, which is a saddening thought. Still, despite that I have still bought more than I have made posts in the last quarter so it's not all bad.

Overall the tone of this album seems to be more sombre, which is a bit of a disappointment, not because it isn't good, but because right now I could do with a bit of a lift. And as I typed that sentence the song that was playing turned from slow, mournful tones to quick, lively ones with a very light vocal. Doubt erased. Good stuff. 

The final track is another slow number but it has a couple of really nice touches. First the spoken (English) intro, and then the harmony between two female voices. A poem set to music to close us out. Overall, yes this is a question of more of the same. No, that is not (always) a bad thing. Change and evolution are welcome developments, but sometimes... Sometimes you want something comfortable and familiar - even whilst it is "othered".

Afterglow - Jon Boden

Track list:

1. Moths in the Gas Light
2. Afterglow
3. Bee Sting
4. Wrong Side of Town
5. Fires of Midnight
6. All the Stars are Coming Out Tonight
7. Dancing in the Ruin
8. Burning Streets
9. Yellow Lights
10. Aubade

Running time: 44 minutes
Released: 2017

New release time. Jon Boden's first solo release after the end of Bellowhead is a return to the apocalyptic visions of his previous effort, Songs From the Floodplain, which I loved. I am catching his tour next month (alas not at a full band show) but picked this based on a prompt from the mailing list. This is a first listen so not likely to represent a final opinion.

The first surprise is the lushness of the sound, it's filled in. The vocal doesn't necessarily have the space it needs to create the picture the album sleeve suggests, and the wind instruments in the bridge feel out of place. It is not immediately a winner, then, but I suspect it might grow on me.

Sunday afternoon, this my penultimate thing to do before the weekend (and my week off) is out. The other is a stack of ironing. Joy. It's been a productive week, but I don't really feel like I've had a break because of that. It's damned if you do, damned if you don't, because if I'd taken the full stop I needed then I'd have still been in a terrific mess and feeling bad about not having done anything. Oh well; tomorrow morning is sorting through a week's worth of unanswered mail and figuring out what changed whilst I was out. In light of that I could do with something a bit more immediately positive or energetic than this. Jon Boden is a fantastic performer, very charismatic on stage, but so far that charisma is lacking in the recording.  The title track is pedestrian, dull rhythm leading to a staid overall effect. I hope this is not representative.

The drudgery is brightened a bit by the light guitar work on Bee Sting, but there is still no sense of pace or rhythm in the piece, even when the drums come to the fore, it's more emphasising the stop of the flow rather than providing positive impetus. Sure, not everything needs to be quick, pacy, intense, but the sell on this album is meant to to be big screen, not back room. It isn't working on that score. The imagery not supported by the sound; the concept not realised as well as it was before.

Oh, this is a richer sound. Space is occupied, arrangements more intricate, Bellowhead band mates invited to play a part in building a busier tapestry, but that extra "stuff" is not employed as effectively as it could be. The sense of identity projected by Afterglow is more after-party... come down, soft and easy. I am not picking out the lyrics clearly whilst I am tapping away here, but I don't get the sense of a vivid and lively world from these tracks.  It feels all very... safe?

All the Stars are Coming Out Tonight injects a bit more of a rhythm but whilst this is a crescendo of sorts, it manifests with all the ambition of background noise. The tune is staid, predictable. So whilst we gain a bit of urgency and, towards the end of the track, some more distinctive delivery from Boden's vocal, that is in service to an uninspiring song.

I am better disposed to Dancing in the Ruin, but... from my point of view the same concept was carried off with more gravitas on Songs from the Floodplain's Dancing in the Factory, where the sense of ruin and life in a world amongst the ruins was conveyed far more effectively. So what appears to be the strongest song thus far is weaker than a previous offering. This tune then devolves into an out-of-place instrumental outro.

I might just be in the wrong mood for this. Burning Streets brings a sense of urgency and stridency to the party but I bounce off the arrangement pretty hard. This is the first time that the apocalyptic vision really feels like it belongs, but the song itself leaves me cold. This is followed by some tension... a slow, dangerous tension, rather than a knife-edge or action-pumping tension. Yellow Lights has the most compelling marriage of theme and execution on the album. I wish this was saying more than it is. Having said that, it is not a particularly enjoyable song musically speaking. The vocal is great, and the arrangement does support it, but it doesn't draw you in. It is more keeping you at arms' length, wary. Apt, perhaps, but not the best of selling points. That said, the track's 7 minutes slide by easily enough.

Suddenly we reach the end. Aubade has a more immediate relationship with the folk roots and past work of the performer, or so it seems to me. This track is approachable, familiar, and whilst not the strongest composition Jon Boden will ever pen it remembers to a) make his voice the star and b) deliver on basic principles. It ends up as possibly my favourite track on the album because it remembers to cover the key points first, though the closing with birdsong is a little... off. Overall I find myself very disappointed. The disappointment is keen, because I so loved his Floodplain dystopia, and I had high hopes for another similar vision. I will give it more of a chance to grow on me - a chance albums from other performers whose other work I admired less may not get - but I can't see this becoming a favourite.

Art in the Age of Automation - Portico Quartet

Track list:

1. Endless
2. Objects to Place in a Tomb
3. Rushing
4. Art in the Age of Automation
5. S/20005S
6. A Luminous Beam
7. Beyond Dialogue
8. RGB
9. Current History
10. Mercury Eyes
11. Lines Glow

Running time: 50 minutes
Released: 2017

A new purchase now. I was idly casting an eye over what had come out recently when I spotted this I bought Portico Quartet's Mercury nominated debut, Knee Deep in the North Sea at the time of its nomination, thought it interesting but not outstanding and barely thought of it since. That was about 10 years back I think. I spotted this, recognised the name and then got surprised by the write up in a way that made me want to buy this. How good or bad was my decision? Time to find out.

The opening reminds me of LCD Soundsystem (I have that one album, y'know... Sound of Silver, but tired of it fast). That sense quickly dissipates though as the jazzier elements come in. The resonant sounds I remember from my other Portico album are here, but supported by a lusher construction. Layers of percussion, a solid wall of background swell and strings above. I'm quite taken with Endless as an opening track. Today was originally planned for gardening, but a wet week and uninspiring skies put paid to that early. I fill my afternoon with this instead, wimping out of biking in the cold. If the rest of the disc follows this lead, it will be a worthwhile choice.

There is a soundtrack-like quality to the early sounds... TV more than film perhaps, an instrumental where the top end could be suppressed to give a swirling background suitable for many a scene. It feels a tiny bit soulless, actually in places. Cold, lonely and distant despite that constant movement. Cold may be appropriate for grave goods though, so there is that. I am reminded a little of the Cinematic Orchestra, but without the genius use of space and emptiness to give tracks more warmth. As that track ends and we rush forwards to the next the repeated piano chords that gave me the LCD vibe are back, and left to go on longer. Too long, really.

The track gets better when that pattern is broken - or at least harnessed better, less obviously - but it is flat. Again it has the air of a soundtrack - music to accompany something else, not music to drag you in. A little over half way through there is a major shift in direction; I like that, and yet it does not really address my issues with the track. It remains at arms' length, nice enough background but no centre, no heart, no soul. The trumpet which provides the main narrative is decent, but it provides a melancholic lead not really supported by the fast tempo of the drums... and this sort of sad horn against a background of electronics is done better by others. I hope that there are tracks here which expose more warmth and draw. The first impression was bad, that was reformed quickly, but as it settles down into its stride, so far I am finding it a little empty.

The title track has more to it. Deeper, rounder sounds. And a less obvious percussion. They can do it, but it seems they don't always manage to.

I can't quite shake the feeling that I have heard this before... the best moments are reminiscent of the Cinematics, or Molvær, etc. It's a feeling that keeps me from really engaging with the album, even whilst quietly appreciating certain elements. The best tracks seem to be the ones where they employ the deep resonant tones... I can't for the life of me remember the name of the instrument, but I seem to recall that it was one of their gimmicks. This works well for me, perhaps because it harks back to their debut and matches expectation, but I think mostly because that timbre of sound appeals strongly on what is a very autumnal day. It is fair to say I am not relishing the onset of fall and winter, inevitable though they are, I prefer the lighter and warmer months.

There are moments here, though. For all that negativity above, I find the opening 90 seconds or so of RGB a joy. The track goes a little off the rails thereafter - a little bit flighty, all trills in the top end - but after a solid opening that had me nodding appreciably. This tune - those high notes aside - seems to fall just on the right side of background soundtrack vs. engagement. Those around it fall on the other side of that imaginary fence. Pleasant enough sounds but with a blandness to them. I am hearing nice rhythms, I rather like the background soundscapes but those things alone don't necessarily make something good to listen to. The main themes are just a little too absent, lines are there but end up subservient to structural elements rather than being supported by them.

One to go now and it opens brightly, its electronics painting a different, livelier tone. They are soon faded down - not out - and moved behind the percussion as the main element of the piece. The melody doesn't arrive for over a minute, and when it does the horn is a little lost in the forest of beats. Oh, you can hear it cleanly enough, but again it is not the star, not framed and promoted in the way that more practiced hands manage. That may be a deliberate choice on the part of the group (who am I to say?) but it does not really work for me. The rhythm dominates too much. It isn't that wonderful, but it is sharp and punches firmly through the other sounds.

Overall then... an album with a few high points, but primarily a sea of serviceable background tracks. It's a real shame that they don't manage to do just a little more, focus just a little bit differently on one or two of these tunes and they could become really nice pieces. My final impression though is of a largely empty shell or a house without furnishings. The structure was all in place, but the key elements that would make the house a home were absent.

Brilliant Light - Danny and the Champions of the World

Track list:

1. Waiting for the Right Time
2. Bring Me to My Knees
3. It Hit Me
4. You'll Remember Me
5. Swift Street
6. Consider Me
7. Coley Point
8. It's Just a Game (That We Were Playing)
9. Never in the Moment
10. Gotta Get Things Right in My Life
11. Waiting for the Wheels to Come Off
12. Don't Walk Away
13. Hey Don't Lose Your Nerve
14. Everything We Need
15. Let the Water Wash over You (Don't You Know)
16. Long Distance Tears
17. The Circus Made the Town
18. Flying by the Seat of Our Pants

Running time: 78 minutes
Released: 2017

I have a love-hate relationship with Danny and the Champions of the World. Well, more like love-ambivalent really. Love, because I found their eponymous first record to be the best of its year, ambivalence because everything that has followed has not made that level. More than that it veered in a different direction, one that gelled less with me. I vacillated a little over whether to pick this one up, then, but I was in a spend to feel better mood and ended up adding it to another order (one which brought me the excellent Every Valley by Public Service Broadcasting), so here I am. Not heard this yet, so first impressions ahoy.

The opening guitar riffs are the latter-day Champs, rather than the iteration I fell in love with a decade or so ago. It's safe indie rock. Not bad, but not an exciting start from my viewpoint. I like the vocal - Danny's gravelly voice, and the interplay with the backing both work quite nicely, even if the song itself becomes repetitive, the title incanted again and again.

Insert usual excuse here for lack of posts. Formulae need to be stuck to!

I think my "problem" with the evolution of Danny and the Champions of the World is that the sound has become less distinct, it has less of a unique selling point than that debut. That was rough and ready, folksy and raw... it played directly to my tastes and sounded different, engaging. This rockier sound... it could be any number of bands. It doesn't have the big sky Americana feel of Grand Drive, not that back to basics sound of the first Champions disc. Both of those sounds resonated more with me. There are hints of Danny George Wilson's musical roots here, but they feel marginalised, made small elements in a less distinctive overall sound.

Having just said that, more individuality has been injected in It Hit Me. Weird comparison of the day, but this has a tinge of Madness in the horns, a frisson of lounge in the keys, and a more open sound. This is less rock song and more crooner ballad, but with an arrangement that does more than make you lazy. Maybe I am just calibrating myself to this... it seems to be growing on me. I have been putting this post off for length, dodging it by way of excuses about tiredness, poor sleep and work stress. When I started this project - 3 years ago now! - I had no responsibilities worth the name and more free evenings and weekends to give over to it. I look at the rate I managed that first 4 months now and my mind boggles. A post a week is beyond me at the moment, let alone 3 or 4. In the last couple of months I have probably bought more than I have heard - this album included - and that is not a recipe for finishing, well, ever.

There is an Americana of sorts about Swift Street, it's the high guitar line that is redolent of country primarily, but when the chorus kicks in the whole sound of the song embraces that slightly corny commercial country sound unashamedly. The next track has a poky little riff in it, though it drops out for the chorus. An interesting sound that I can't quite find the words to describe. There is a better pace to this, though I find myself thinking a smoother voice would be a better fit with the song in place around it. The livelier number is welcome though. I could see this song becoming an earworm - it has that sort of "grower" feel to it... y'know a song that is just OK the first time you hear it but which with continued exposure builds into a favourite. I think, though, the runtime probably knocks that on the head. It sounds like the song should be ending around the 4 minute mark but there is another 90 seconds plus of extended lead out to put up with. That might work in a live gig, but not so well on .mp3.

This is definitely eyes-west though. The guitars continue to hum lines that have an American tinge to them, the pacing is slow, rural... It isn't the same Americana as Grand Drive were, and I maintain that it is more bland (or perhaps familiar?) than that big sky sound but it is slower pace, rural and small town in a way that doesn't feel quite right coming from a British band somehow.

If I didn't know this was from 2017, I wouldn't have a clue where I would place it. It sounds out of its time somehow. The opening track was pretty nondescript 00s rock, the heart of the album I am buried in now has an older feel to it... 80s maybe, with flashes of even earlier. I associate sounds like this with (mostly bad) films watched when I was a teen. I couldn't name one if pushed, but that's the direction my thoughts float on It's Just a Game. When that track ends they launch into another which could have been a continuation in some respects.

At this point I think Wilson's voice is starting to grate. He sounds older, more worn out, on this record and whilst that can really work for some performers the longer I am exposed to him here the more I find that roughness annoying. It probably doesn't help that his style leaves a lot of words open... long sounds that seem not to finish before the lyric moves on. This gives me a scratchy kind of feeling, rather than a cultured one... more "I've been singing too long" than "years of booze and fags to shape it". Not that the latter is better or should be aspired to! The music has receded back into a generic ameri-rock pattern for now, very 80s guitars making my ears glaze over some (who knew ears could do that too?).

I am half way through. It is worth mentioning that the physical copy of this album is 2 discs.

This second half has a couple of really long tracks, the first of which is unfortunately forgettable, It seems to have set a musical theme that I am less than engaged with and there is an awful lot of title chanting in the lyrics right about now. The first half had its moments of difference though so I am hopeful there will be more, and my hope is rewarded almost immediately with a slow number. Don't Walk Away is the stand out of the album so far. I love the female voice added here, I like the muted horns under everything and the space the arrangement gives the voices. It's a little unexpected gem.

To underscore how unexpected it is, the next track adopts more tried (almost typed tired, which might be true, but a little harsh) and tested structures. It is another slower number and brings to mind a whole genre of country tracks that populate radio stations in TV shows. This is the second 7 minute track (rounding up) and it goes on, and on, and on... sucking joy from me as it does. Endings, people, endings are a good thing!

Oh geez. I typed that at 5 minutes. There's no pace, no interest, just hold and sway - this is not a dance hall and I am alone so it is filed under delete. I don't normally like to cut things on first listens because music really can grow on you, but I have limits there.

I will say this... the use of the sax gives things an odd tone in that it is not entirely in tune with the Americana theme, a little bit of incongruity that freshens up what might otherwise be stale.

I like the riff for a change! Let the Water Wash Over You has a hum to it. Very generic light rock hum, but it is still pleasing. I think I am running out of things to say though - fighting the urge for single sentence paragraphs and dismissiveness.  A long day boardgaming half-fried my brain and now words are far from my grasp. 3 hour round trip driving tomorrow too... busy weekend. Of course - the weekends I am busy are the weekends that the weather would have supported being outside doing useful stuff. Such is life.

Oh dear, the end of the song is a weird old let down. Thankfully the following sound is brighter, and we're on the final stretch now. Overall I don't really know what to make of it. Probably I shouldn't have bought this one, but then again there is an obvious high point in there and another couple or more that could be growers. Others are formulaic in construction, repetitive and overly reliant on a small number of lines lyrically. There are grand moments of Americana, and petty faux-pas of Americana. What there isn't is a consistent feel to that theme - it darts about from dull to impactful and back.

Oh that was horrible sentence construction. Nevermind... a less gravelly Wilson and very country guitars are sliding me along to the end of the album. Flying By the Seat of Our Pants is onto a loser though, because the title is so close to I'll Fly By the Seat of My Pants by King Creosote and it puts that other tune - one of my all time favourites - into my head instead. So I end the record thinking of something else rather than paying attention to this one, which is a little unfortunate, because I think this might be one of the better songs on this album.

The summation would be thus: alright, might grow on me if I gave it a chance.

The Beautiful & the Actual - Rosie Hood

Track list:

1. Lover's Ghost
2. A Furlong of Flight
3. William's Sweetheart
4. Lord Lovel
5. Dorothy Lawrence
6. Baker's Oven
7. The Little Blind Girl
8. The Red Herring
9. Adrift, Adrift
10. The Hills of Kandahar
11. The Cruel Mother
12. Undaunted Female

Running time: 44 minutes
Released: 2017

This is a bit of an unknown, a new release I picked up sound unheard because folk singer with good reviews. An old fashioned punt in the dark in an era when that really isn't necessary. This is a first listen, to boot so this listen is unlikely to be definitive.

The opening sound is a low reverberating thrum, a dark contrast to Hood's light, bright voice that chimes over it. It is a good test of the new speaker I have attached for this one - less practical as it has no independent volume dial (and adjusting the PC volume isn't as "one-touch") - since my previous one was gunked up and wouldn't clean up nicely. The song is all here; underneath the vocal are an array of low key background sounds rather than a clear tune. The effect is nice, and I find the vocal style a bit reminiscent of the more interesting side of Lucy Ward. A decent beginning.

I had hoped to complete more listens in June, whilst on holiday, but issues with getting reliable power in meant my downtime was spent reading instead. Since I have been back I have been a little too pulled in multiple directions to get to this until now. As blind punts go, this one feels like it might pay out, as the second track - a more recognisable tune here - continues to exhibit a very engaging voice. There is a nice simplicity to it. We are firmly in quintessential folk sounds now, as a squeezebox takes up the lead on William's Sweetheart. Here the delivery of the lyric is tighter, clipped a bit, less floating.

There is, then, a versatility on display here; I find I rather like it. This applies to the music as well as the voice as the arrangements to the first 3 or 4 tracks are distinct and use different instruments and forms. Of this first third of the album, Lord Lovel is the least enjoyable by far; here there is something about the voices that doesn't quite gel with me. Hard to put my finger on what and why though. Happily it seems to be a brief misstep as a staccato string base hums under a more impressive vocal on the next track. There is a vibrancy to this that is really impressive - yet I find myself wondering at the same time how much I would really want to listen to it. I hear, and I appreciate, but I wonder about how repeatable that appreciation is. I think that is because some of these are quite stark, raw and open and so the songs can appear challenging.

Rosie Hood can really sing though. Really, really sing. More than just holding the tune, the timing and the expression in her delivery is gorgeous on The Little Blind Girl where (for I think the third time on the disc) she is really carrying everything on her as the accompaniment is almost an afterthought. The difference in accent aside, I also hear echoes of Eliza Carthy here, which is no bad thing, though I think Hood's voice is a little smaller and less forthright than Carthy's they share some rhythmic approaches. I would also call Hood a more musical singer - so not as good in some ways, better in others.

The variation in arrangements and styles seem to have normalised over the course of the disc, it feels slightly more consistent as it goes on, converging on more traditional folk structures, even as it goes off piste subject wise with a song about soldiers in Afghanistan. Of course, I spoke too soon; the very next track returns to a cappella, two voices alone. Nicely executed, but not at all an easy song to listen to. We then close with a return to voice over staccato bass. This form is probably my take home from the album, a nice stripped back way to present the songs - albeit one that I think you have to be in the right frame of mind to appreciate. I am not quite there by the end of this listen, not as much as I was at the start of it anyway. That might be the time, the oppressive humidity as even with the house opened up all day the thermostat reads 26 plus and the air is muggy and close.

Silence has fallen as that final track concluded. I found this a striking collection, one I am very glad to have heard but which I wonder about how often I would want to hear it again.