Choir of Echoes - Peggy Sue

Track list:

1. (Come Back Around)
2. Esme
3. Substitute
4. Figure Of Eight
5. Always Going
6. Just The Night
7. How Heavy The Quiet That Grew Between Your Mouth And Mine
8. Electric Light
9. Longest Day Of The Year Blues
10. Idle
11. And Always Is
12. Two Shots
13. The Errors of Your Ways

Running time: 46 minutes
Released: 2014

Well, that one song title throws off the alignment of the cover image. 

Is it bad that despite this being a relatively recent album (i.e. within the last few years) I can't recall a thing about why I might have it? I suspect Peggy Sue benefited from the purchase on the back of being similar to another group - I want to say Allo Darlin' for reasons of hunch - but it may be that I just went all in on the random here.

The parentheses around the opening track title hint that this is a proto-piece rather than a true opening track. It is vocal, only. I guess they are trying to create the titular choir, there are some echoing sounds in there but... it falls a little flat. the sounds were alright but it doesn't go anywhere. A minute and a half is too short for pissing about repeating yourself to be impactful.

The first proper song has a twangy guitar part and a nice, if not brilliant female vocal. I like the languid tone, the easy familiarity of the music and the slow pace of the lines. Pleasantly it breaks out of that pattern, too. No part of the track really stands out and overall the track is just nice, not stand out, but I find myself appreciating it... before realising I forgot to switch off shuffle and am listening to Always Going and not Esme. Correcting that, once it closes, I go back to the start. More twang, and I am now getting the impression it could have been Lanterns on the Lake that brought me here - there are similarities in the vocal, and in the overall tone of the songs, if not the particulars of the musical construction. I am again, predictably, overdue this post - and to fit it in now I am having to find flimsy justifications for not doing other things, outdoor things. It's the first weekend in April, it's a nice day. I should be gardening but I am not. I should be spring cleaning, but I am not. I should be buying my nephew's birthday present... that can fit in after this assuming I remember.

A darker tone on Substitute. Very poppily so, false angst, staged almost. The edgy thrum of their guitar riff watered down from a more "serious" act or genre. I have defaulted far too much to videogames or YouTube vids for my quiet time of late, contributing to the paucity of posts. I found my keenness to keep on going wavering - not consciously, but more by the simple realisation I wasn't listening. Not throwing in the towel, more like forgetting where I was and what I was doing.In the background, whilst I agonise on this, a very bland number is playing itself out. I'll need to skip forward soon, and hope that it picks up a bit. Peggy Sue have energy and enthusiasm, that's clear. Often that is enough to produce something characterful, but that doesn't happen without effort or fault.

Oh, I like the opening sounds of Just the Night. I find myself tiring of the singer though, that languid approach, originally a draw is now a blandness, flat, a flaw. The traces of accent in her voice make my brain shut down trying to fetch the reference for who I think she sounds like, meanwhile I continue to rather like the musical crucible created for her in this track even as the vocal disappoints. The next opening hits a reference for me: First Aid Kit. No question the Swedish sisters are better though. Here we also have two meshed female voices, also have fairly simple arrangements, but it lacks the charm. The ridiculously long title creates an interest, the song fails to deliver on or justify.

I find my opinion bouncing back and forth like a squash ball - at speed, careering into walls, deforming and rebounding. There is a nice bright light touch to a lot of the playing, a tendency to create nice simple musical spaces, looping riffs, variations, overtones. These are really effective, catchy or relaxing, urgent or bright - they have a knack to changing up their theme between tracks. None of the songs really run too far with that though - they don't mash these tones together, which might take this from a pleasant album to a pretty darn good one, but leave each song to stand as an example of the tones chosen. Musically I think it works most of the time. It's the vocals that keep batting me back, pushing me away. There's a boredom in there, like she's not even trying (I'm sure she is), but I get nothing stronger than disaffected teenager, pressganged into stepping in. The flatness is an affectation, almost certainly deliberate, but it really hasn't worked for me on any track other than Always Going. Seeing a puzzle that you've solved again holds nothing like the interest of the same puzzle seen for the first time; so it feels with this vocalist.

I get the impression that this music is better consumed in shuffle form. The energy and pep in their playing could inject a change up and sense of purpose into a random selection, and as a one-off the bored teenager effect either wouldn't grate so much or (more likely) wouldn't be noticeable at all.

There are still two and a half tracks to go, but I am not sure if I have anything novel to add. I keep coming back in my thoughts to the contrast between the peppy sounds and the flatness of the overall effect. It feels disappointing, I guess - in the way that only something that offers you glimpses of goodness can. If it was flat-out bad, it's easy to draw a line under it and move on. Not delivering on promise is worse for that.  Whilst also being better - because at least there is some promise - seeing something could be so much better leaves an "if only..." hanging in the air.

I think perhaps this music would benefit less attention - a funny thing to say, perhaps, but if I were doing something else whilst listening to it, I suspect my ear would be drawn more to their creatively shaped spaces and patterns and not the lyrical content. I cut a couple of tracks, the most egregious examples of the vocal taking over and flattening everything out, and keep the rest in the hope of a more positive impression in other circumstances. It doesn't feel like an unfounded hope - there are so many nice little touches scattered through it that under another light, another form of inquiry, they can shine like the nuggets they are. The soil jut needs to be kicked and scuffed away a little first.

Capricornia - Allo Darlin'

Track list:

2. When You Were Mine

Running time: 3 minutes
Released: 2012

I have a quickie to fit in. A singleton from a single, I guess. I think I picked this up from Bandcamp after already having the A side as an album track but I could be wrong. I loved Allo Darlin' and frankly since then have picked up everything I have seen them do (rather than everything they've done) to somewhat mixed results. When they are good, though, they are very, very good indeed.

When You Were Mine is upbeat and tuneful, a guitar tootling around over a pacy rhythm. It has me tapping my foot immediately. The song is washing over me, I don't think it is the singer's best moment - there are points in the song where she sounds flat - but it serves mostly to counterpoint the tune and rhythm with a different sort of sound, obscuring the repetitive nature of the composition enough for it to be enjoyable. Not their strongest effort, but a pleasing little 3 minute pop song. And that is me done!

Black Light - Diagrams

Track list:

1. Ghost Lit
2. Tall Buildings
3. Night All Night
4. Appetite
5. Mills
6. Antelope
7. Black Light
8. Animals
9. Peninsula

Running time: 59 minutes
Released: 2012

I remember when I first heard of Diagrams. It was in the run up to the one time I went to End of the Road, where they were performing. I heard a radio piece and thought "that voice is familiar" before twigging that it was Sam Genders who had been part of Tunng. I rather liked what I heard, and bought the self-titled EP, saw them live at the festival (good set as I recall) and bought this album when it followed. I also bought the 2015 follow-up Chromatics recently and was disappointed. Not sure where I'll stand on this one, other than the 27 minute duration of last track Peninsula fills me with despair.

It is later than I would normally think to start an hour-long listen, but I am 99% certain that there is about 20 minutes of silence in Peninsula so I don't anticipate sitting through it, and I need something to fill up time until I can reasonably go to bed! Ghost Lit is an odd starter, I like what they've done with Genders' vocal a lot, the effects give it depth whilst the composition and arrangement spin around it. There is not really much to the song though and some of the kookier sounds in the melange are out of place and end up detracting from, rather than adding to the ambiance.

Tall Buildings is more what I was expecting. A bright poppy guitar, a bit of pace and a similarly treated vocal - echo effect giving it weight and volume which is an interesting contrast with the very stripped back feeling I get from the super clean sound of the main riff. It fits better with the other sounds drafted into the mix, but it is that black-and-white polarisation between the main elements that makes the song interesting. The song feels very 80s but with updated modern electronica rather than awful synths. Like the preceding number, I don't think the song has much merit, but the track as a whole works really nicely. I am happier that there is more heft to Night All Night though. I remember the chorus of this one despite not having heard it (by my estimation) for 3 years or so and there is a really pleasant roll to it, and a nice change up between chorus and verse. It feels like quite a downbeat song, but the tempo for most of the piece belies a more positive air. Rather than getting caught being neither, it somehow manages to be both and really work for me.

I am casting about for things to do to wind down - I've had a long day at work, a cancelled set of evening plans, another failed run at doing something about loneliness and finally come off watching the opening episode of River on the BBC. Nicola Walker stealing the show as a manifestation of Stellan Skarsgard's dead partner in a show penned by Abi Morgan. Too many good people involved to be dull - but I came out thinking it had some excellence and a lot of guff too. Need more to draw firm conclusions. 

Not so about Black Light - I am liking it a lot for reasons I find melt into intangibility as I search for words to explain. Tracks feel very different - there are commonalities of course but musically there are also significant distances between them to my ear. Appetite is the weakest so far but even this has some energy that makes it more than bearable. That said the interesting little riff that opens Mills is very welcome, much more worthy of attention - its a strong opening that the rest of the song will do well to live up to. Here the vocal doesn't work so well, it fits with the theme alright but the echoed effect is at odds with the arrangement and jars a little. Contrast is all well and good, but using it well is an art, and here it seems to have strayed into crassness rather than consideration. The song is still interesting but I suspect it would be better with a cleaner singing voice.

I have spent too much money today. Two new pairs of shoes and another new board game; the latter something I have had on a wishlist for years but needed to wait for a recent reprinting, the former a weakness of a sale, but one where the nice bright colours I wanted weren't available in my size. Boo! Antelope is, along with Night All Night, the point at which I first engaged with Diagrams. Nice staccato structure, softly spoken lyrics, funky little rhythm. I don't think it is as good now as I thought it was when I first heard it, and were I in a less charitable mood I might be dismissive. I find that aspect of this self-defined project interesting, the effect my mood and my prejudices about what I am about to hear play into how I actually appreciate things. Good moods engender good listens and it probably takes a really bad album to bring me down in those circumstances. I love the title track. It has a really positive, happy bounce to it. Reminds me weirdly of Paul Simon for some reason, which in turn makes me think of Allo Darlin' and an all time favourite tune of mine from their self-titled debut. For something I like, I sure am avoiding actually talking about it, eh? I find it hard to describe and do justice, but suffice to say it is far more about the overall feel and optimism of the track than any specific facet of the musical construction. Nothing else matters at all (lyric stolen for appropriateness) indeed.

Animals is a disappointment on the back of the rich positiveness of Black Light. Slow, disconnected and lacking in life. Its a mess. None of the poppy craft of earlier tunes, nothing catchy, no interesting effects employed. Just a rather dull lyric and a cacophony of bits and pieces that fail to mesh; this has to go. The same will likely be true of Peninsula if my fears of Hidden Track Bullshit are confirmed - and from the opening bars that would be a shame because this has a really nice guitar melody to open, and a lovely light tinkling around it. Thankfully Amazon Music to the rescue. Because I buy the vast majority of my music through Amazon, retrospective Autorip applies and I have been able to get me a 6 minute version of the track without the silence on the end. Pleased about that, because whilst it is not as immediately vital and enthralling as Night All Night or Black Light itself, Peninsula is a pleasant little tune, even after the bad synth line takes over. Having said that, another minute or so after that point it seems to lose the plot in a most upsetting way. What started as a lovely light melody ends by diving into a morass of unnecessary experimentation and repetition that removes all of what made the opening enjoyable. Its probably still worth holding onto all the same.

As the minutes of silence start I wonder what Genders was hiding... I doubt it was much as the most egregious offenders of Hidden Track Bullshit (hello new tag!) are often those with the least to offer in return. Sound returns just shy of 23 minutes. Actually its a pretty neatly modulated vocal, and what sounds like a helicopter fading in and out softly behind it. There is something of the appeal of a Gregorian chant about the vocal on this secret track. I have to take my opening of this paragraph back - this hidden track is pretty darn good. It's a pity that there are 15 minutes of silence to get to it. I would rather like a version where that is not the case, and this could exist separately. Alas, my knowledge of how to mess about with music files is severely lacking, my Google-fu is weak and my morals probably wouldn't extend to grabbing the fruits of someone else's separation anyway so I have the choice to stick with a 28 minute track in top and tail format or ditching 2 tracks which both held my interest. Arse.

Beachcomber's Windowsill - Stornoway

Track list:

1. Zorbing
2. I Saw You Blink
3. Fuel Up
4. The Coldharbour Road
5. Boats and Trains
6. We Are the Battery Human
7. Here Comes the Blackout...!
8. Watching Birds
9. On the Rocks
10. The End of the Movie
11. Long Distance Lullaby

Running time: 43 minutes
Released: 2010

A local band. Stornoway formed in Oxford. I remember there being a buzz about them at the time. I remember picking the album up on a punt a short while later. I remember not liking it much. How much of that is true and how much is dodgy recollection is now to be tested.

What I can say before it kicks off is that I really like the album title - it conjures up pictures of recovered flotsam, curiosities from another life. It would be a shame if that is the best thing about it. The first track - Zorbing, after the hobby with the giant hamster balls - starts very non-committally. It reminds me a lot of something else - I think it may be Standard Fare, even though their vocalist is female. It has generic indie-pop all over it; fun but not too fun, light but not too light, easy to listen to, hard to like in any active perception. This sense persists as we move forward... there is none of the instant charm of Allo Darlin' here, just some very repetitive bases and lazy head-nodding structures.

It really isn't that bad, but it isn't good either. The only thing standing out is the fact it does not stand out.

There is a slight change in tone for Fuel Up - more morose, less twee - but still equally uninteresting. It is notable that there is a distance in the recording; everything seems quite soft as if it were drifting across a field rather than being experienced up close. It is not just the volume, but there is a muffled edge to some of the sounds that increases that. I think this is deliberate, it would tie in with the choice of a faraway coastal town on a windswept coast as a band name. If so, then this is the second thing to like after the album title. The Coldharbour Road makes me think back to my university years in Bristol despite being a part of town I never spent any time in - it is the best song yet and a probable keeper but I am afraid that does not say much.

It really is the vocal that gives me the indie-pop vibe more than anything else. The composition infringes on that patch now and again but the cadence of the singing is the stamp of genre in a way that I cannot quite explain. The album does seem to be getting better though even if there is still that propensity for uninteresting repeated rhythms and hooks. I find it interesting that the first two tracks - which really were utterly bland - were the singles and that I am more engaged with the disc as we leave them behind. I say that, but I have just disengaged with a Mumford moment. Unfortunately I do have Mumford & Sons to come, but I cannot stand them (another buy based on popularity which is clearly a bad thing!) and there is something about the song that just started which brings them to mind and there is nothing positive about that. The timing fits for them to have been a significant influence too, so I hope it does not go beyond this one track.

I seem to be leaving flaky skin all over my keyboard. Ew. I have noticed that my skin and lips have really suffered this winter and I hope that they recover as warmth returns to the country. Warmth may just have flashed back in the music too - bit more of a driving pace, same distance on the recording... Watching Birds is a decent start and feels like it is building - if it can continue without falling back into the same hook that it started with it might be another keeper. Alas, it drops back into the same form which worked for about 30 seconds before it got dull. There is some interest over the top of it but it has lost the urgency that it started with and the way it is presented feels like something that has been cobbled together from random bits and bobs rather than crafted with any plan and cohesion. It is nice to be listening to a shorter work though - even if I am not entirely enjoying it.

Into the run in, and there is no energy in the playing. I am listening in procrastination; I should be sorting out car insurance, credit card bills and battening for some shelves but the cold windy day is not inspiring me. That and I woke up knackered which never sets the day off on a good foot. I think a bowl of soup and Game of Thrones (Tyrion's second trial by combat) are next up and maybe this afternoon I will be better placed for productivity. This post is good for a clear-out though - the retention rate is low. I do not know how much difference it will make to get rid of this stuff - for all the chaff that I am cutting my library will still be huge and I will still end up skipping stuff freely if I shuffle it all. I suspect after I am done I will have achieved very little but having this as an outlet is a positive in itself. I have been going 6 months already at a rate of slightly below 1 album/2 days and at that rate it could be a decade's endeavour. How much new material will I buy in that time frame to invalidate my clearout?! The pile of 2015 purchases is in front of me, and it amounts to approximately one a week. That is a lot of additions but I am just about listening faster than I am buying and to be fair I have just found a couple of really good artists that prompted specific action.

Meanwhile Stornoway are concluding their effort whilst I waffle on. The run in has been nondescript and unremarkable. Nice enough, not objectionable but not anything that I feel I need to listen to ever again either. I do not feel any loyalty to local bands really, certainly not enough to overcome indifference of output. The last tune has receded and my finger hovers over delete as I plunge 9 of the 11 tracks here into the Room 101 of my recycle bin.

Baby I'm Yours EP - Math and Physics Club

Track list:

1. Baby I'm Yours

Running time: 2 minutes
Released: 2007

I only have the title track from this EP, which is free on Last FM along with 2 other tracks from Math and Physics Club (I have them, too). i can only assume they were recommended based on someone I actually listen to, so I simply grabbed free stuff, because I do not know this band at all.

I debated crunching the three together but it makes for a titling and labelling nightmare so I figured I would do them separately. Three short posts instead, then; this one is especially short as this song is less than 3 minutes long.

It is twee indie-pop, which makes sense for both the band name and the likelihood of me having picked up some random track somewhere. The jangly guitars and percussion are quite nice, the singing less so. It feels a bit light... like a cut down Allo Darlin' (which is likely where the recommendation came from). Unfortunately cut down too far to be enjoyable enough to make it worth keeping.

7777777 - Allo Darlin'

Track List:

1. Only Dust Behind
2. Dear John
3. Kings & Queens

Running time: 8 minutes
Released: 2012

So it turns out there were a load of Allo Darlin' B-sides and E.P.s available on Bandcamp. I had never checked before, but now have a handful of new tunes, including this set.

I have never heard two of the three tracks before this but it starts very breezily, if quietly. Only Dust Behind is charming enough but there it is lacking something I cannot quite put my finger on. Dear John is a little poppier, more sparkle to the guitar. The vocal is uncharacteristically subdued in places though and it is not amongst their better songs.

Kings & Queens (written with the ampersand here) is a version of a tune which appears on We Come From the Same Place. It is significantly different to the album version, much more raw and possibly a little more catchy.

Overall these 3 tracks are pretty standard examples of Allo Darlin' tracks in terms of construction and, as I like what that tends to mean, I like these tunes. I would not hold any of them up amongst my favourites but all three made me smile, which is a good thing on a cold, wet day.

Allo Darlin' - Allo Darlin'

Track List:

1. Dreaming
2. The Polaroid Song
3. Silver Dollars
4. Kiss Your Lips
5. Heartbeat Chilli
6. If Loneliness Was Art
7. Woody Allen
8. Let's Go Swimming
9. My Heart is a Drummer
10. What Will Be Will Be

Running time: 37 minutes
Released: 2010

Now this should freshen things up!

Allo Darlin' was another purchase based on a discovery on LastFM and it quickly became a firm favourite. The first song I heard was Kiss Your Lips and it was infectiously fun, happy and generally great. I then picked up the album and found that there were 7 other songs just as good or better. The other 2 I am not so keen on. The group play infectious indie-pop with personality and energy and are just awesome to see live.

The infectious happiness in this album starts immediately. Nice, bright, catchy upbeat drive and a his/hers duet with interesting voices. It just oozes positivity around a simple clean structure and a hook that lasts the distance without getting dull, only to be blown away by the twangy-ness of the line that starts The Polaroid Song. Both of these tunes are busy. They are not massively deep or layered  but there is a very strong simple theme and the pacey nature of playing quite a lot of notes, in jaunty fashion gives the impression of so much going on it is hard to keep up. The actual song about Polaroids is actually quite a laid back/reflective number which makes for an interesting contrast with the highish tempo. I find both an absolute joy.

That sentiment does not go away yet either. Silver Dollars has a similar structure (upbeat bass, fairly high tempo) but more space for the vocal and more separation of tune and rhythm. It contains one very strained rhyme that has always bugged me slightly (rhyming platonic with tonic is perhaps less the issue than the delivery of the line, but still...), but otherwise it continues the theme of really cheery, charming tunes and catchy music.

Kiss Your Lips changes pace a little. It is noticeably slower, but no less catchy. I know I am sounding like a raging fanboy here, but there is something immediate and instinctive about my reaction to these songs - an unlocking of buried joy - that I cannot really explain. I doubt many people that know me would type me as the hipster who gets in on cult indie darlings but that is pretty much exactly what happened when I heard Allo Darlin' first. Just blown away by some emotional response to their genuine fun.

Heartbeat Chilli is the first of the two songs I do not much care for. Much slower and simpler it loses the energy and enthusiasm that is, for me, the real selling point of Allo Darlin'. It is also a food-centric love song and just typing that phrase seems so fundamentally wrong! Thankfully it is just a mid-album interlude in the infectious pop. Loneliness is less upbeat to start but it grows on you before the cheesy sha-la-la's kick in. As a long term singleton there are elements of recognition in this; these are geeky love songs, which somehow makes them more palatable to me than more traditional pop love ballads - I am a massive geek after all. That said, she could be singing about strangling cats on Mars for all I care. I note the words as I listen but really I am here for the the simple wonder of it, and for basslines and snazzy tempo to die for. Woody Allen has both in spades and my foot starts tapping as I type. I cannot stop smiling. It's not even my favourite song from this disc!


My favourite track, by a country mile, is My Heart is a Drummer. So joyous. It starts slow then explodes into full on catchy jangly goodness and the delivery of the chorus still gives me goosebumps. The bridge is so infectious it is unreal. Having seen a tent full of folks of all ages jumping up and down to this in a sweaty ecstasy once, I would give quite a lot to do so again but these days I do not get to as many gigs as I used to. Living in a small town not a tour spot, not knowing people who share my tastes. It saddens me some.

The album ends on a more reflective note. What Will Be Will Be is the second track I could take or leave most of the time. It is really nicely done and really it only suffers here because the rest of the album is such a favourite, and because the disc is short, you are not worn out enough to appreciate the slow-down fully.

When I bought this, almost 4 years ago now, it went into the car and stayed on a constant play cycle for an age. I put it back in often. The magic has not faded. Two later albums have come since - the second just a couple of weeks back. They have not grabbed me in the same way, but Europe was a grower, and I am hoping that We Come From the Same Place will be too. Allo Darlin' may be the best band you have never heard of. From my experience I would say listen to this disc if you get the chance - even if it is not normally your thing. You may think it trite hipster shite, or you may find, like I did, that there is something inexplicably necessary about this music.

Music is about emotional responses and this album produces one of my most enduring. A little ray of sunshine in the dark autumnal gloom. These days there are few things that I would blanket recommend, but Allo Darlin' has a quintessential simplicity and joy about it, I would quite happily do so. I do do so. It will not be everyone's cup of tea, but if even one person has the same magical reaction to their work that I did then the world is a brighter place.