The Church with One Bell - John Martyn

Track list:

1. He's Got All the Whiskey
2. God's Song
3. How Fortunate the Man with None
4. Small Town Talk
5. Excuse Me Mister
6. Strange Fruit
7. The Sky Is Crying
8. Glory Box
9. Feel So Bad
10. Death Don't Have Mercy
11. How Fortunate the Man with None (Original Version)

Running time: 47 minutes
Released: 1998

This album contains one of my favourite cover songs of all time. Martyn's take on Portishead's Glory Box is inspired. I don't have that much of Martyn's back catalog - just this, Solid Air, and his debut, London Conversation. I'm not quite sure why I have such spotty coverage but there we go. Time to see what the rest of this covers album is made of.

I don't actually recgonise any of the songs here besides Glory Box for their titles, or the listing of composers in the track metadata, so it is a bit of a voyage into the unknown in that sense. The opening number is a smoothly grooved track, with Martyn's sometimes gruff voice is applied in a hushed and softened manner. The tune is not revolutionary, the lyrics not great, but the overall vibe is much more positive. Mood is a massive thing in music and where Diagrams managed to butcher the mood on Chromatics with some very bland arrangements, here the tunes maybe simple but they hit the nail on the head, and support the central draw, our star's vocal.

There is a lot to be said for execution; the band here do just that. It could just be that I am in a more positive mood today, though.

Things get a bit weirder on How Fortunate the Man with None (which appears again at the end of the disc; apparently originally a secret track, my copy - digital purchase, I think - has it credited natively). There is a shift to the main structure of the piece, losing the easy, bluesy nature of the first couple in favour of a busier sound. Electronics creeping in to form a rather off-putting loop. I say off-putting because it rather dominates the tune, and frankly its not an interesting hook. There is some decent drumming around it, but Martyn's voice is subsumed into this underwhelming, synthetic sound, killing the majesty some. Thankfully it seems to be a one-track experiment.

Martyn had great resonance, a full sound, magnetic and with a natural depth to it creating a warm sound. His voice sits so well with slow, sparse, bassy tracks. Together this creates a comfort blanket in aural form, wrapping me up and captivating my ears. This is a laid back album for the most part, a late night album in some ways; it's early afternoon now but the sheer cool of the man, his band and their source material succeed in slowing things right down. I probably need more John Martyn records.

Strange Fruit switches things up a little, opening with a sedate piano melody that lasts 80 seconds before the vocal joins in. There is a touch of percussion in there too but this track is sparse. I love the slow tempo, the vocal becoming a drawl on the low notes; it drips atmosphere and reminds me a little of Tom Waits, only more welcoming. Martyn is a better singer, his voice smoother than Waits' I think, though I would be hard pressed to say which I prefer. The slow pace is a feature of a number of tracks here, but its effect is variable. I find it less endearing on The Sky is Crying, for example.

Musically, Glory Box is a faithful cover, upright bass taking on the riff with aplomb, but the real standout is the soulful way Martyn delivers the lyrics. He turns the track - always a downtempo classic - into a blues masterpiece. There is so much character in his low, meandering take - pretty sure he injects some new lines in places - that it really is magnetic. I have always loved the original track; covers are often difficult in that situation, but this one nails the aesthetic of the track so perfectly, whilst migrating it genre-wise. I put it easily alongside Portishead's version as an equal, if not a slight improvement on it.

Feel So Bad gets an injection of life; a livelier riff - and a better use of electronica than we heard earlier - switch up the overall tone, which the tune probably needed not to pale in comparison with what came before. The quicker, louder nature of the song cleanses the palette and so obviously distances itself from Glory Box that it doesn't suffer. It is a palette cleanser, too; the slow, low sound returns after one track away. I think this is album craft, a dying skill in the day of streaming and downloads. Death Don't Have Mercy gets to return to the style used to smash earlier efforts out of the park and still stand up brilliantly because we were pulled out of our soulful reverie for a short time.

Ah, now. The "original version" (metadata tag line, not mine) of How Fortunate the Man with None that I close on... this is much more accessible, more enjoyable than the credited version. This has life, soul and more organic sound. This has a clearer vocal, no dubious electronics and a groovier bass and drums. This is good, good enough for me to ditch track 3 and be happy to lose it. Everything else? Everything else is staying because everything else is pretty darn great.

Chromatics - Diagrams

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.

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.

And Then We Saw Land - Tunng

Track list:

1. Hustle
2. It Breaks
3. Don't Look Down Or Back
4. The Roadside
5. October
6. Sashimi
7. With Whiskey
8. By Dusk They Were In The City
9. These Winds
10. Santiago
11. Weekend Away

Running time: 46 minutes
Released: 2010

I have listened to this disc a lot. Tunng became a firm favourite of mine with Good Arrows, which I picked up after hearing Sam Genders in a radio discussion and liking the cut of his jib. And Then We Saw Land was the first Tunng album after Genders left (going on to The Accidental and later Diagrams) and signalled a little bit of a change in direction but largely retained the likeable parts.

The album opens with a sonic warp, picked up by keys, then dropped (or rather faded back) in favour of a hooky guitar riff, to which rhythm is added. Hustle is a summer song, so light, bright and fun, foot tappingly so. It is pretty repetitive now I listen again and somewhere near the end gets a rattle that overpowers, but otherwise it is a strong little number that sets a tone nicely.

Catchy little tunes are what this era of Tunng is about. Gone/reduced are some of the more eccentric samples of Genders' era, in their place a structured framework to catch you and then keep you smiling. There are breaks in the pattern (there would have to be for it to work) but they really just emphasise the format.

Guitars are the main hook, but the patterning applies to the background sounds, percussion and so on too, as well as the vocal. There is some good use of harmony and contrast. Personally I think it is a really tough call between this and Good Arrows as to which is better (I still lean to the earlier one). Incidentally, Don't Look Down or Back is available as a free download here; it is pretty representative, but not my favourite: that is to come. The Roadside opens with staccato picking that just gets me tapping along so quickly that I am immersed before the other layers join in. I am noticing the echo effect on the vocal for the first time (consciously at least) now though, which just goes to show you can generally find something new even in favourites if you actually pay attention.

I used to think that the album went downhill from this point - shot its bolt too soon then faded out. There is an element of that, but it is premature yet. October is a neat tune; the harmony between the male and female voices is great, the way they blend in together whilst maintaining very distinct tones. It is a mellow track, too - nothing brash, nothing too catchy; a nice interlude before the much hookier Sashimi. Electrics make more of an obvious show in this one; no bad thing, but it makes it sound a lot more stark, cleansing the aural palate by sweeping away any lingering expectation of muted tones.

Whiskey not whisky, eh? I had not noticed the preference for Irish over Scotch previously; no idea whether it was intentional or the most natural way of spelling it for them. There is an odd moment in With Whiskey where it goes all A-Ha on us, lyrically - invoking Take On Me in the chorus, before finishing up and getting to the awesome instrumental that is By Dusk They Were In the City. This tune I adore... tuneful, loopy base with pauses and interjections before a build to a self-gratifying guitar solo - the sort of thing I am not generally a fan of - which is so well worked in to the overall progression of the track that it does not feel so... abusive. I think it is the continuation of the main structure around it that gives it that freedom as it sparks off the loops then drops out to allow the song to close. To be honest I did not really feel this time through as much as I have others - and particularly when I saw it live, but it remains my favourite track on the album.

These Winds strips everything back, largely a cappela but with a little percussion it is a complete tone change and feels longer than its sub-2 minute length. This is the point that I lose a little of my interest in the album with the track having less to hook me. Santiago continues this trend not because it lacks the hooks, but because I find the ones it has less sonically aesthetic. Hand claps and electronics predominate and these are just less compelling than the layered keys, guitars and percussion of earlier tracks. Weekend Away is not a great closer either. I love the way the chorus works but the verses and bridges are less compelling. Harmonies again are great, but the musicality of the arrangement is lacking for a large part of the track.  When it swells up and you get more of the traditional elements, the track is stronger (they are natural crescendos in the piece too); pity they had to fall away again in the way they do. There is a secret track on the end of it, but thankfully it's only a few seconds after Weekend Away comes to a close so dead air is not an issue. There is not a lot to the hidden song and really I think we would have been better without it.

So the last quarter of the disc is a little weak, there is a definite drop off in interest driven by a move away from the instrumentation used throughout the first 8 tracks to a more minimalist style that relies more heavily on electronica. Those songs are not bad, but they do let the side down a little. Happily there is much more good than bad and the album has reaffirmed its place time and again on my commute and on longer journeys too, and now here. I am sure it will again, because life is always better when you get a bit of Tunng.