The Bright Carvings - Monkey Swallows the Universe

Track list:

1. Sheffield Shanty
2. Martin
3. Jimmy Down the Well
4. The Chicken Fat Waltz
5. Down
6. You Yesterday
7. Wallow
8. 22
9. Fonz You!
10. Still
11. Beautiful Never

Running time: 37 minutes
Released: 2006

Did someone ask for twee indiepop? No? Too bad, that's up next. I suspect this album is pretty bad, though I think Monkey Swallows the Universe had some pretty catchy little tunes on the follow-up (The Casket Letters). I had that before this, and the only song here I can bring to mind before I start is less than great. Still - prejudice is bad, mmkay?

It starts far more promisingly than my introduction. A neat little guitar part and an understated vocal. It has a slightly disheveled feel to it - a late night stumbling home feel. Suitable; my clock says 00:44 though it is really a fair bit earlier than that. After 2 busy nights I had this one to myself and I have gratefully retreated into music rather than explore after dark. Weird moment when we get a bit of Paul Simon lyrics chucked into the middle of the opening song. Trying to be clever and referential falls down when it is such blatant wholesale stealing, but I rather like the overall tone this opener sets.

The slightly higher pace in the guitar line of Martin reminds me of Thea Gilmore, but the vocal isn't as good and the song bottoms out pretty early. The chorus has a nice structure but the playing is functional rather than engaging and the vocal is missing something intangible - not through lack of ability, more the wrong context. This tune fits twee, where twee is used as a tarring brush, whereas the one that follows is just plain... ugh. A trite little number that deserves no credit (indeed I saw a set at a festival once where Jimmy Down the Well was used as a stick to beat the drummer with by his new - less successful! - band). It doesn't get any better after that finishes either, as the tune that follows is all over the place.

Sheffield Shanty was clearly giving a false impression; the rest of the disc thus far is pretty much exactly what I imagined it would be. The sense I get is that the band hadn't matured to find their sound at this point, but by the time they did, they had decided to part ways. I will get to The Casket Letters later this year (I hope) and unless my memory is playing tricks on me - a common theme, I know - the quality exhibited there is much higher.

You Yesterday has something slightly more interesting about it, but it is raw and unpolished. Vocal a little too flat, chords snatched, janky, levels not quite set. Its an interesting (and quick) little diversion, and then Wallow has a much better tone to it. A sense of purpose in the playing - two different guitar tunes interweaving well - and a vocal that is more like something I want to listen to. I really like the edginess that the repeated note striking on one of the guitars gives and the snatchy, speedy little hook. Best thing on the disc so far, although that isn't saying too much.

After a quick break to rinse out my ears (ew!) I set about 22, the little acoustic riff and glockenspiel combination falls flat for me as it starts, and the fuller sound of the mature track does nothing to win me back. It isn't that the song is bad, it just fails to be compelling, doesn't offer anything to arrest the ear and demand attention. The growth of the track, strings and other arrangement added, could be really nice in another context, but it lost me early. That goes much for the punchier Fonz You! too. It feels like music composed for a less than serious montage on TV or something. Maybe someone riding a bike, but unable to go in a straight line or stay upright. There's some whistling though, which is the first time I recall hearing that as part of the music (rather than a crowd reaction) outside of Andrew Bird records.

Final two tracks. Still is frustrating almost immediately, it has elements I really like in the vocal and some of the long extended, modulated notes of the melody, but the two do not sound like they are working together to me. The same sense persists through the song, which really only comprises those two things... and that only serves to make the frustration more acute. I think on balance I forgive it, but only just. The final track is the longest of them, at 6 minutes. It is sombre by comparison, whilst keeping the voice plus guitar limit. I get the sense they were trying to ape someone else here but I cannot place whom. It seems, too, that the 6 minutes is a lie as the song fades out after 2 and a half.  The stupid hidden track arrives a minute later and surprises with a male singing voice, and not a great one at that. The lyrics are amusing enough I guess, but the butchering of them is painful to behold.

Yes, this was pretty weak; not quite a complete write off but near to it; they got better, though.

Bridge over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel

Track list:

1. Bridge over Troubled Water
2. El Condor Pasa (If I Could)
3. Cecilia
4. Keep the Customer Satisfied
5. So Long Frank Lloyd Wright
6. The Boxer
7. Baby Driver
8. The Only Living Boy In New York
9. Why Don't You Write Me
10. Bye Bye Love
11. Song for the Asking
12. Feuilles-O
13. Bridge Over Troubled Water

Running time: 43 minutes
Released: 1970

A classic I was moved to pick up because... I don't know why. I have Simon's Graceland too, which I have listened to more, but I have never been a particular fan of him or the duo. I think I must have felt - at some point probably close on 15 years back - that I really ought to listen to this. Either that or it was so cheap I couldn't pass it up. I wonder what a dedicated listen will offer?

We start with the very recognisible chords of the title track - a song I have two of, since the "bonus tracks" on this disc include another recording of it. A weekend where I didn't get to a listen on Saturday, and this one is being squeezed in (today was Mother's Day here). The song is a little soporific, subdued. I don't think this is the version I am more familiar with. The melody is nice and clear, soothing, the vocal has its moments but does not inspire me. It is better when they harmonise but even then it gets a bit grandstand-y, all blow no show. I am not a fan.

The opening to the second track is more promising, Spanish guitars, but it is far less interesting once the vocals start and it devolves into a rather stereotyped style, the sound more Greek to my ears than Spanish. By the time Cecilia starts I am thinking that even at a price too cheap to pass up this is not for me. This track is far too happy-clappy for my liking, with really nothing to recommend it to me. The blusier sound of Keep the Customer Satisfied is more interesting but at the same time its basic progression is so cliched and standard that it sounds like a thousand other songs; I can't escape that feeling which rather ruins the track for me.

The plus point that offsets these whinges of mine is that each track is very different from the last. Thus far they are equally unengaging though, and I find my eye drawn to the figure waving Amazonian bugs around on the silenced TV in the background instead. I really shouldn't have it on whilst otherwise occupied; bad habit. Seems that the energy usage is not a significant factor though, to go by the reading on the smart meter.

The Boxer is another instantly recognisible track. This has a cadence and a timbre that is more pleasing, even before the chorus with its distinctive lai-la-lais. The softer tone but consistent rumble of the guitar create a nice space, and the rise and fall of the vocal fills that space, giving it shape and form to the ear that my brain translates as relaxing. I wasn't aware that it got dark though - some threatening sounds creep in between 3 and 4 minutes somewhere, but all fall out by the end. It all feels a little schizophrenic, a bit like the whole album and its inability to stick to a style or theme. Simon and Garfunkel were certainly varied to go by this. More happy-clappiness follows, definitely sounding its age - birthed in the 60s, though the album itself scraped into the 70s before arriving. There are elements of The Beatles in Baby Driver I reckon, though that particular group are one I am far from qualified to talk about.

The Only Living Boy in New York... another tune that is a step above the majority. This time next week I'll be on a plane heading in that direction, business not pleasure, though I'm going to NJ, not NY. Wrong side of the Hudson. The song stands out because... it doesn't stand out? There doesn't appear to be such a gimmick here in the way that some of the other tunes have had. This sort of style, laid back folky guitars, is more what I would have expected from this pair; maybe I like it more because it aligns to expectation. I am not so keen on the next track which makes me think of cheesy movies that don't date well, nor on the swell of crowd applause that drowns out Bye Bye Love - this is a clap-along live recording it seems with an overly jaunty guitar that just makes me a little queasy. It sounds like a precursor to Graceland (some 16 years hence at this point) in some ways though... and I would hazard that between the two, Simon worked out how to apply the effect better.

Couple of shorties, then the second rendition of the title track. Song for the Asking sounds like a lot of 70s folk that presumably followed this, which is to say its pretty bland and sad, but pleasant with it. The brightness of the guitar offsets the maudlin strings and the short and sweet nature of the song  wraps it into a more than acceptable package. The French song that is the first of the two bonuses is really dull; it is also very short but brevity is not enough to save it.

Those chords again - we're reaching the end. This is a softer opening, I prefer the vocal here and the piano-only recording. There isn't quite the grandstanding here, though the same stresses are all present. It is all just a little more understated, and we Brits love that more than brashness. It isn't all piano and voice, percussion arriving later, even if it is handmade. This version feels more authentic somehow, purer, better - or at least more to my taste. I didn't get on with a lot of this album if I'm honest, but there are a few highlights to maintain. Given that I probably got it for a pittance, that's not too bad, then.

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.