Concubine Rice - Lone Pigeon

Track list:

1. Dad's Blue Danube / Concubine Rice / Your Tie Perhaps?
2. King Creosote's Wineglass Symphony / Sally Bradwell
3. The Road Up To Harlow Square / Been So Long
4. Heaven Come Down / Ancient Hubbard Cow Of Bubbletoop
5. Beatmix Chocbar Rap / Victoria
6. Waterfall / Boats
7. Old Mr. Muncherman / Endless Ballad Of A Riccoco Moon
8. Melonbeard / Lay Me Down / Stars Won't Sleep
9. Lonely Vagabond
10. Oh Catherine
11. Bona Fide World / Johnny & Jodie / Long Way Down
12. The Rainking / Don't Look Back
13. Concubine Rice Reprise / I Am the Secret Unknown
14. I Am the Secret Unknown
15. Untitled

Running time: 60 minutes
Released: 2002

So I think this will be an odd one. Lone Pigeon, aka Gordon Anderson, one of three musical brothers in my library, the others recording as Pip Dylan and my perennial favourite boy, King Creosote.

This is a solo work, though Anderson also recorded with The Beta Band and The Aliens, and I seem to recall it being weirder than his band-based work. There also seems to be no consensus on the proper track list for this album, so I've gone with what matches the titles in my player.

I rather like the simple rhythm that we start with, even if the tinny synth keys aren't exactly musical in nature. Anderson's voice is deep here, and the lyrics are definitely odd, but at the same time there is a simple charm to it all. Is that a recording of an elephant trumpeting?

This morning I have already been thwarted by bad luck once, discovering a slow puncture on the rear wheel of my bike meant I couldn't get out for some exercise before the day got too hot; I lack the necessary bits and pieces for repair so my pathetic attempts at healthy living is stymied again for now. I can well believe that the wineglass symphony is actually what it says on the tin, because the actual sound is a horrible din in places. Thankfully it gives way to more of a tune, and some repeated Beta Band limits. Recycled material is something I see a lot with Lone Pigeon - As an example, Boats crops up here as part of track 6, has it's own place on Schoozzzmmii, and then made it on to Luna by The Aliens too.

This whole album cuts about all over the place, splicing vignettes together into longer tracks. It gives it a very tumbledown air, very random. In places this manifests as some frankly appalling sounds, in others its just slightly odd, and then here and there you get lovely little loops, melodies or vocal lines cutting in and out. Honestly, just from the 4 and a half tracks that have played by now, I half feel I should just cut the lot. But only half. The other half of me loves the oddity, enjoys the arbitrary nature, and finds real beauty hidden in those nicer, more melodic moments.

I'm pretty sure my track list is wrong. Track 6 seems to have the Ancient Hubbard Cow of Bubbletoop at the start. You would have thought in this day and age it would be easy to get a definitive listing but... no. The rest of 6 sounds like it should be Beatmix Chocbar Rap, but no list I see anywhere fuses those two half-tracks together. I think this must be deliberate. Even pausing and going to look for the physical disc and liner notes really doesn't help clear anything up because the presentation there doesn't click with the 15 tracks it ripped to. I don't like the inaccuracy, but at the same time I'm damned if I can be arsed to sort through this any further.

There's a really nice guitar part at the start of what I have as track 7. It doesn't last long before we get into a really low-fi, echoing recording all sharp sounds and over-sustained vocals obscured by fuzz. Completely random, and still no Boats.

Of course.

The very next thing that plays is Boats. At the start of track 8. Only the opening hook though, then we're on to something else.

By this point the constant switcheroo is getting tiring. The interesting bits and lovely melodies are fewer in number than the meandering dross. I have been reluctant to mention it to this point, as someone who has been through (minor) depressive episodes in the past, but I find it hard to escape the thought that this disc might reflect Gordon Anderson's struggles with the mental illness that caused him to drop out of the Betas just as they made their name. The lack of cohesion in particular gives me that impression. Between the muddled track presentation, the skipping between styles, bits of atonal or incidental recordings and frankly nonsense lyrics its a hard one to escape.

Those nice moments are now so rare, and presented in such chaotic context that I'm considering junking the lot. Lonely Vagabond has a nicer touch to it, but of course the player things I'm on Oh Catherine now; only 1 tune out by this point, but still. It's frustrating me enough that I'm seriously considering junking the listen here, and there's still 20 minutes to go, including a 9 minute epic.

Somewhere along the way I have tuned out and got distracted by other things. It seems that might be a sensible thing, but it is contrary to the intent of these listens. I'm really rather disappointed by this. I knew this disc was weird but I hadn't realised just how poor most of it actually is. That said, if it was an endeavour that got Gordon Anderson through tough times and poor mental health then for all I dislike it I am happy that it exists.

I am the Unknown foreshadows the Aliens some, that rockier sound points towards things like I am the Robot Man, and The Happy Song... or rather to itself. This appeared on Astronomy for Dogs as well. The clashing guitars are actually a really welcome change from all that went before but not enough for me to save anything from this hot mess of an album.

Compendium - The Second Hand Marching Band

Track list:
   
1. Mad Sense
2. Lies
3. A Dance to Half Death
4. Don't!
5. Not Yet
6. We Walk in the Room
7. BonBon
8. Grit and Determination
9. My Gift is Waiting
10. Next Year
11. Bottle of Anger/Lies (BBC Scotland Radio Session)
12. A Hurricane, a Thunderstorm (BBC Radio Scotland Session)
13. Love is a Fragile Thing (Sleazy version)
14. Learn to Love (2007 demo)
15. Bypass (2007 demo)
16. Transformers (2007 demo)
17. Dawn Raid (2009 demo with Benni Hemm Hemm)
18. Alexander and Angela (2009 demo)

Running time: 69 minutes
Released: 2010

I've written about how I came across The Second Hand Marching Band before. This has the look of a best-of and retrospective, including tracks I have elsewhere, but that's alright by me. Twee Scottish low-fidelity amateur charm is OK in my book.

It is a suitably low key starter for 10. Mad Sense's slow tempo, a lone voice, adding another. It's disarmingly charming. Yes, I was biasing myself towards this before I started, but there really is something comforting about the simplicity here. That said, I am happier for the bigger sound and a bit more life in Lies as that takes over, its intro more than half its length before the vocal joins. 

I can't help but feel, though, that I should stop this listen after three tracks, because A Dance to Half Death is undoubtedly the summit. I have loved this track since the first time I heard it. There's some fragility in the voice that endears, whilst the main theme, the twiddling tunes behind the vocal and the pace all strike emotional chords (pun intended) in me.  There is a rawness to it all, a heart laid bare, a pleading appeal. In some ways the song is amateurish, the voice almost fades away in places and it sounds like only an indie-effort could... a little rough around the edges. Yet the earnestness, the genuine intent and belief of the performers and the tones of their strings stir feelings in me, a sort of comfortable loneliness and longing. It is, I think, a masterpiece, albeit one most people will never hear or appreciate.

The sense that everything is slightly off-key can't be as easily brushed off on the more bombastic Don't!, and here the effect of everyone playing and singing together has more of a cacophony about it, and then we hit the first of the tracks on this album that I don't recognise. Not Yet jettisons the noise for a stripped back sound, a female main vocal, it reminds me more of Strike the Colours' less pop-y pieces in places with the intricate little strumming loops, though overall the similarities aren't that great. It builds nicely and I find myself enjoying it a lot.

Of course, my liking this should not be any surprise; The Second Hand Marching Band shares (shared?) some overlap in membership with eagleowl, a lot of their tunes exhibit that very clearly, and eagleowl are the best band no-one ever heard of and the group that I keep going back to when being alone all the time tips over into loneliness. The downside of that is that hearing those sounds when I wasn't feeling lonely (like just now) can tip me over into the very loneliness that I use these sounds to escape. Today is a calm day of not much between two days of hosting people for board games and in the aftermath of family Christmas. The quiet and peace are - or were - welcome, especially as I don't really feel like I have been off work for a week yet!

The album loses its way a bit in the middle. All pace slips from the tunes, and they strip back too far to be interesting. They retain a gentle charm, but it is a detached one, rather than an intimately engaging one.

The combination of Bottle of Anger/Lies brings back the energy. Yes, it is in part a repeat, and I could have sworn it was something I had elsewhere, and a quick search suggests that I axed it! Huh. Context matters - here this combo really worked to bring back something that was lacking as the mid-section drifted. There I found the raucousness abrasive. Odd. I am still not that enamoured of A Hurricane, A Thunderstorm though and I may axe that again (especially as I have other versions).

It amuses me that there is a sleazy version of, well, anything that would be advertised as such, but that is where we are with Love is a Fragile Thing... I can't hear anything immediately worthy of that term, so I guess it is a bit tongue in cheek (or I am tone-deaf). Then we are into a bunch of demos to finish off the offerings.

Learn to Love starts these off with the same trembling vocals that endeared A Dance to Half Death to me. Here there is less to back that up, but it is still plenty pleasant. Actually it may end up being these demos are the real reason to have this album... the search for where I had Bottle of Anger/Lies before laid open how Compendium is less a greatest hits and more the collected works. The first 10 tracks come from two EPs, 11 and 12 from the BBC sessions linked above. Happily thus far they are well worth having. The recording is a little harsher, louder, than perhaps would be ideal but the tone of the songs is right.

My attention wandered, and I find myself suddenly at the end of Transformers without consciously processing the bits in between - nice soft guitars, low key vocal and not a lot to do with the track name as far as I can tell...

Two to go, then; 10 more minutes.

I find my words are gone. My drive to type MIA. Suffice to say I really like Dawn Raid even though I cannot find the lines to explain why. The closing track I am less keen on. Musically its more of the same and OK, but the lyrics are mean-spirited in places. Not a good finish.

Come On Die Young - Mogwai

Track list:

1. Punk Rock:
2. Cody
3. Helps Both Ways
4. Year 2000 Non-Compliant Cardia
5. Kappa
6. Waltz for Aidan
7. May Nothing But Happiness Come Through Your Door
8. Oh! How the Dogs Stack Up
9. Ex-Cowboy
10. Chocky
11. Christmas Steps
12. Punk Rock/ Puff Daddy/ Antichrist

Running time: 67 minutes
Released: 1999

As much as I love Mogwai, I've never really got on with CODY as an album. It has always been down the pecking order for me. Probably because I came to the group late, and picked this up by going backwards not forwards. Still, now it's time to listen properly.

Punk Rock: isn't, but the synergy of the voice with the gentle wandering guitar is better than it has any right to be. The louder moments of the sampled voice track (TV show interview I guess) are less effective, crowd noise is not particularly engaging. It is snowing outside, I have not been sleeping well the past week or so and I have been overly social in that time, too - only one weekday evening and today, Sunday afternoon, to myself. I need that alone time to recharge, and hopefully the next hour or so can contribute to that.

I suspect I will enjoy the listen more than I anticipated when I wrote the intro (a long time back given the sparse postings and need to fill in As and Bs that I bought), and come away with a new appreciation for this record, but still - 67 minutes is a marathon, not a sprint. The listen is putting off consideration of how to handle a complex scenario in the RPG I am running, the washing up and various other things I don't really feel like doing right away, so the gentle meandering of the title track is a rather apt form of procrastination. I am actually pretty familiar with track Cody from the live album Special Moves, which I listened to a lot whilst driving in the couple of years after it came out.

Thus far the tone of the disc is subdued, placid, with a tempo to match. It's really rather relaxing, a long way from the quiet/loud dichotomy or the wall of guitar noise that crops up in many Mogwai offerings. The most interesting factor so far has been the use of American TV soundbites. One actually spans two tracks, linking Helps Both Ways to Year 2000 Non-Compliant Cardia. This latest tune has the most body of anything so far, but is still in keeping with the easy overall tone.Not having ready up on the album, I don't know if this continues throughout, whether it was a deliberate choice by the band to mellow out, or whether the longer tunes coming up in the second half are more immediately recognisible as Mogwai.

To be fair, I'd like to think that if I heard any of these tunes in isolation without knowing them I would still be able to guess the creators because its not a million miles from their signature either.

I am enjoying this little oasis of calm. I am half way through per the track list, but a lot less than that in truth. The back half contains 4 tracks over 8 minutes and 2 at around the two-minute mark, whereas the first half was made up, generally, of standard radio song length pieces. The first of those long tunes does not shake up the formula, the easy-paced, light melodies. It does introduce some more strident strumming, but still within a slow paced formula. At this point the form is starting to wear a little thin for me in some respects. Whilst I appreciate the overall tone I am increasingly finding my mind is wandering because it is all a little too samey. Then Oh! How the Dogs Stack Up comes in with a weird old voice sample and and being completely out of place - old-timey, slightly off-key piano, and a sort of screeching background. I think that tune has to go.

Three epics back to back now.

For some reason when I see the track title Ex-Cowboy, the cattlemen of the American west is not the first thing that comes to mind. I think instead of Football, and Bloodbowl, of Dallas and Darkside. Perhaps it is an affectation, sport on the brain, influenced perhaps by the silenced snooker on my TV right now? I really like the main riff here though I find myself semi-tuned out because the pattern is set, and the track does not seem to have enough of a crescendo. Of course, it arrives as I am typing that last sentence, a sort of helicopter-blade swirl of sound applied over the top of the same riff at the same pace and amplitude. A screech, a scream, an objection to something.

A nod to earlier, the static the tune ends with is used as a bridge between tracks, and Chocky kicks off with a lot of dissonant sound humming and buzzing around, obscuring a gentle piano intro. I find this to be unwelcome. One tune fades, another rises, and then the fuzz clears and we actually have a piece of music with a discernible structure. A pretty good one at that. There are hints of sounds here that remind me of other songs, snatches of other groups - positive associations. The one that I can't shake that pops up again and again through the track is Red Snapper... I don't recall the track title(s) for the songs I am thinking of though, so I can't explain the reference. Maybe They're Hanging Me Tonight? It's a very different piece, different style tone and everything, but there are echoes here and there, similar sounds used in similarly punctuating ways.

There is a sort of restrained but naked threat in the sound of the first crescendo in Christmas Steps, a sound that had me springing forward in interest and excitement. This is the first really aggressive passage of the album and I like the bolder, brasher sound. The contrast is too late in arriving for me to consider CODY a great album, but this at least provides a great moment. The energy disappears from the track thereafter and it feels like the wind-down lasts too long, but then from a certain perspective the whole record is one c.70 minute come-down with a brief lively moment near the back-end.

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".

The Collection - Runrig

Track list:

1. The Greatest Flame
2. Wonderful
3. Dance Called America (Live)
4. Skye (Live)
5. Only The Brave
6. Small Town
7. The Cutter
8. Pride Of The Summer
9. Harvest Moon (Live)
10. Alba (Live)
11. Meadhan Oldhche Air An Acairseid
12. Lighthouse

Running time: 57 minutes
Released: 2009

This was an ill-conceived purchase insofar as it was blind, and I don't think I've ever sat down and listened to it. I bought it at a time when I was picking up Celtic music, having just discovered and fallen in love with Julie Fowlis' songs. I cannot recall what drew me to this specific disc - not why Runrig, not why The Collection (which doesn't seem to be listed in their Wikipedia discography). This isn't meant as a pre-emptive strike against the album, so much as against my purchasing habits, and resulting lack of enthusiasm for a post.

I have it, so I'll hear it.

An odd artefact as I start, the first song came in at the 2 minute mark, in mid flow. After a reset, the same structure actually fires up from a base. It gives me an 80s chart rock vibe more than a folksy (or even folk-rock) one. Oh so forgettable, like it is going out of its way to be bland in order to not be actively disliked by anyone. It just is, there in the background, with no real appeal but no real repulsion. The voices aside, I would have pegged this as American radio fare, perhaps with even less edge. Not a strong start, then.

Wonderful has a bit more life to it, whilst still having the same overall sense of characterlessness - like a cheap knockoff U2. Two tracks in and I can honestly say that not only was this purchase blind, it was off target by several genres; yes, I am regretting it... I have better things to do with an hour of a day off, really I do. Having said that, I did catch myself involuntarily tapping my toe with the rhythm here.

It somewhat beggars belief for me that on the first of four live tracks on the album you can hear a throng of an audience singing along with gusto. Not because there is an audience for this, but because there is an enthusiastic audience for it. I can just about, if I squint, make out the appeal of inoffensive and characterless music. Pleasant enough sound to fill a hole in the background of a busy life and all that. What I find harder to pin down is what would get people excited, rather than, say, comfortable.

There is a brighter sound on Skye that actually in places makes me think more charitable and positive thoughts. Little intricacies in the guitar that remind me of indie-pop; that can be a bit Marmite, something that risks being disliked to deliver.

This has turned into both a blow-by-blow and a rag-fest. Neither of which is a positive direction for the post, so I will digress a bit for a moment. Last week was an odd one, finalising plans for some business travel, an unexpected request and some potentially exciting news on the job front. It was a bit of a whirlwind week all told, and it feels odd to go from that into a week's vacation, booked well before hand. I have a long list of tasks that I want to achieve in this time off - including posting some more here - and whilst I crossed through a number of them yesterday the problem with having that list is that it doesn't really feel like having a week off. The other side of that coin is that if I hadn't listed them out, I wouldn't get anything done and whilst I would end the week rested, I'd feel annoyed with myself for not being productive. #LifesLittleFrustrations or something.

In the meantime Runrig have got through one more number. These tracks average out at just under 5 minutes each, which feels too long to me. But then as we've established above, I am not really falling for this sound, and the extra runtime on each track simply hammers that home.

Here and there the Celtic roots are shown. I can't help but think if the balance between that and the generic rock sound was re-calibrated then these tunes would have more personality and more appeal. In places it feels like they are consciously mimicking traditional instruments and arrangements with their rock band tools. For me, I would much rather they just used those traditions straight up, but at least songs like Pride of Summer have more personality about them.

My chain of thought has pretty much come to a halt with regards to this disc; I cannot come up with interesting ways to rephrase and repeat the same points that stand between me and enjoyment of this music. I feel bad for that in a couple of ways. First, I am not so sure that Runrig really deserve the scorn. Their output here is not for me but it isn't tacky or crass or even bad, really. They sound earnest - particularly on the live tracks - but ultimately they are peddling a style that is a little too flat and open to all for me to get excited about. This isn't a case where I hate the sound, tone or direction so much that I could happily spew indictments and not feel bad about it. I just have to leave it as not my bag.

The penultimate track is Gaelic lyrics and theme crossed with the orient in terms of certain sounds in the arrangement. I cannot accuse this of not having some personality. I'm not a fan of the guitar work on the track, which becomes more prominent as it goes, but up to that point it has been by far the most interesting number on the disc. Not enough at this point to salvage anything but a nice note of difference and of positivity that was unexpected.

When it comes, the end is sudden. No long lead out here, just a final trill. I will not miss this.

Cold Shoulder - Bdy_Prts

Singleton time. This is not so much an album as a tack released on its own. Bdy_Prts are two  female performers from other Scottish acts come together to do something... and with an album due later in the year. One of those is Jenny Reeve (Strike the Colours) - which is what brought them to my attention when I thought to look into what she may have done more recently.  It turns out I also have music from the other Prt(ner), who was in Sparrow and the Workshop.

That said, I don't think I actually listened to this, or the other track I grabbed (I.D.L.U. - which is categorised as another singleton for some years in the future) after downloading them from whichever outlet I got them from. I honestly don't remember if they were free samples or if I bought them. And that was earlier this year... I suck!

Rather than post a bogus cover image and stuff, I'll link to a YouTube of a live performance:

So what do I make of the song?

Bold single strikes to start, that's good. Reeve's voice, always welcome; her American companion brings a different tone, the composition gives both voices space, doesn't over-complicate things.  I am less fond of the chorus. The track is perhaps not what I was expecting, yet it is enjoyable all the same, without being stellar. I would say it heralds promise and an interesting change of direction for the performers

Club Anthems - Ballboy

Track List:

1. Donald in the Bushes With a Bag of Glue
2. A Day in Space
3. Dumper Truck Racing
4. Public Park
5. Essential Wear for Future Trips to Space
6. I Hate Scotland
7. Olympic Cyclist (acoustic version)
8. One Sailor Was Waving
9. I've Got Pictures of You in Your Underwear
10. Leave the Earth Behind You and Take a Walk Into the Sunshine
11. Swim for Health
12. They'll Hang Flags From Cranes Upon My Wedding Day
13. Postcards From the Beach
14. Sex Is Boring (acoustic version)

Running time: 65 minutes
Released: 2001

First up, this is nothing like the title suggests. If you played these in most clubs you'd be out on your ear as everyone left.

I got turned onto Ballboy by a friend who now is not, their style of self-effacing Scottish indie-pop being right up my street. Looking down the track listing, there are some top songs here, but most of my favourite Ballboy tracks are on other discs.

It starts with a jaunty little riff, a snappy drum beat and a lazy guitar hook, then dives off into a story - one of the things I like about Ballboy is the stories that manifest in their songs - about a recovering glue-sniffer. Cheery start, no really, it is. The music is upbeat and Gordon McIntyre's voice is full of positivity here, despite the lyrics. It beats the crap out of the continental covers band I saw last night, when I discovered what Twitter is really for. Acerbic one-liners when you don't have anyone around you to share the joke with.

The tone changes as we head into space for the first of two visits. Lush background harmonics and a guitar hook sit underneath a spoken monologue from the point of view of a dreamer with a love of space. Here McIntyre's voice is soothing, laid back and enjoyable as he meanders through the stream of consciousness thoughts of our narrator - whether him or a construct for the purpose of the song. He has a nice style of repeating certain lines for emphasis, which focuses you in on certain ideas in the song. All the while the harmonics and guitar circle, producing a lush carpet of sound beneath. Everything strips right back then, as we head into an acoustic number, a tired, dreamlike one at that.

Went out swimming earlier, first time in a long time. Tired now, so I find my eyes wanting to shut as the simple keys and guitar combination lulls me into relaxation. The guitar in particular is soothing, simple patterns of repeating notes at a slow enough pace to make every pass out but insistent enough to not leave holes in the sound. When that bottoms out for the final part of the track it feels slower, duller. Thankfully Ballboy tend to drift around in terms of tempos and fullness of sound, and they follow that sparser number with a lush, expansive one. Strings, guitars, drums creating a backdrop for the vocal - somewhat swallowed by the enveloping soundscape, until they leave him clear to sing over an acoustic for the chorus. One of the things I like about Ballboy is the way they use these lush sounds to support a singular and often quite lonely song, one that could just as well be told with one guitar. And then they switch between modes simply and effectively.

There is also the natural urge to self-deprecate. It is a British thing, not restricted to Scotland, but these guys do it very well. I must have mentioned here before how this sort of doing oneself down resonates with me.

After some very spangly sounds on our second space-themed track we hit the number that was my first introduction to Ballboy. I Hate Scotland (from a Scot, remember) is a grungy repeating low guitar riff, a dirty kind of sound, supporting another monologue, about how modern Scotland doesn't always meet expectations or standards. That said, it begins with a hark back to childhood and school PE lessons. The darkness in the thrum contrasts with the clarity of the spoken vocal. It frames the mood of the lyric, without overpowering it, crafting a powerful overall effect. There are lighter injections into that underlying noise, the equivalent of choruses I guess. I prefer the darker moments though if I am honest. After laying out his mind on Scotland, the narration returns to the PE analogy. It's a little non-sensical, giving everything up for the equipment and ability to execute a singular exercise... I guess I see it as calling back to a perfect moment, a point of pure exhilaration.

There is life in the action of their guitars. I don't play, but I imagine that most of these songs are pretty simple, musically. Rather than going for great technical challenge they focus things down and execute well. Keep it simple stupid, and do it perfectly. Of course as soon as I type that it goes off at the speed of lightning. Whilst fast is not necessarily complex, I guess, it torpedoes the confidence I had in my statement all the same. The opening sentence of this paragraph remains valid though: the band give it some and when they want to the really drive pace through their strumming. It reminds me a bit of The Wedding Present (which I am pretty sure was a reference point at the time I was introduced).

Oh, spangly. I don't really recognise the opening to Leave the Earth Behind You and Take a Walk into the Sunshine. The general form of the track is very recognisably Ballboy, but for whatever reason I think I have not heard this so much. McIntyre's voice here is more ethereal and removed, perhaps fitting for a song which seems to have some existential angst to it ("are you happy with your life" indeed?), but the guitars fall into a familiar pattern. My complaint about this track is that it drones on a little bit - 8 minutes without any real change-up is too long however comfortingly familiar the sounds are. I am tired of it by 6 minutes for reference.

I get the impression that the end of this album will arrive quite suddenly, as the track lengths drop off a bit from this point. That said, I find Swim for Health to drag me down, the horn that has appeared for this track not really fitting - not carrying the burden of the tune as well as the guitars, which have been relegated to support acts. We lurch from that to a stripped back downbeat song. They'll Hang Flags From Cranes Upon My Wedding Day sounds like a positive title but the song has a weary air to it that means it comes across as more circumspect.

The closing is rather low key, too. There's a sense of resignation to Postcards from the Beach, clearly a break-up song, and Sex is Boring is... I dunno. I know the song, I like the song musically but it's a weird one, as it's opening line suggests the listener take him back for BDSM, that he then claims will be dull and unrelated to his purpose for visiting. It progresses into an angry diatribe or rant and, well... I ran out of words, and ran out of time as the song concluded, and with it the album. There are a few sketchy points on this one if I am honest - or maybe its my post-exercise brain failing me.

Clean the Night - eagleowl

Track list:

1. Clean the Night
2. Life We Knew

Running time: 8 minutes
Released: 2014

Ah eagleowl (small e because all their promo stuff eschews capitals; alas I capitalised the tag some time back and cannot seem to correct this). One of my favourite bands all told. I bought this earlier this year - not realising they had made anything available since This Silent Year in 2013. I routinely find myself listening to shuffles just of eagleowl tracks - there is something very pleasant and rewarding about their understated compositions that just chimes with me. These two tracks cost me the best part of a tenner (I did get the physical picture disc for that, too, mind).

I am doing this on the first day on my Grecian holiday for the year, good intentions to do it earlier dashed by tiredness. Now, with a 30 degree plus sun outside the slow, dark, moody tones of Scotland feel a long way off. There is, though, a definite comfort in the simple guitar hook, the droning strings and the accented vocal. I am starting to unwind after the travel yesterday and the joy of not having anything to do today, and whilst incongruous with the Mediterranean weather, the post-folk refrains of Clean the Night are joyous invitations to relax. There is a soothing quality to the primary male voice in particular, but that is backed up well.

The second, shorter, track is more peppy to begin with - the snatched chords brighter and happier even as the words reference scattering ashes. The upbeat nature of the song shines through, little hook repeating, the layers of dark strings from the first tune absent for the most part. There is a constant chorus of "oohs" from the female vocalist giving a nice contrast to the male-led song and whilst by the time it closes I find the track a little repetitive I cannot hold this against them. eagleowl bring me joy... I rather wish there was more.

Interlude: Three Craws - James Yorkston

The Three Craws; James Yorkston, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-910449-76-9
Freight Books, Glasgow

Publisher site

An interlude now, as I digress to talk about a book, albeit a book by one of my favourite musicians. Yorkston picks an interesting title for his second book, and first novel, given that he, King Creosote and The Pictish Trail played gigs as a trio under that name.

The reason I am moved to write about the book here is not because I loved it, but because it was so authentically James Yorkston that I feel it merits mention alongside the music that led me to him. Set in his home turf of Fife, specifically the rural locales outside St Andrews, the style is such a good fit for the man it's uncanny.

Having seen the man play live, but also (and importantly) talk both live and on film, I found that it was easy to slip into reading his prose with Yorkston's own voice. This made for an interesting first couple of chapters, before I caught the sway of the protagonists themselves. More remarkable than hearing his voice so clearly in the text was how perfectly his way of delivering dialog in text, through italics, no quotes, no he said, immediately gelled with me. It is generally jarring, at first, when someone breaks standard conventions. "Everyone writes dialogue this way, what the heck is he doing?" Here, though, it worked for me. It fits perfectly with my picture of the author, his softly spoken tones, which lead you on a slow ramble. This is occasionally present in his music - I recall commenting on a conversational style when I sat down with the Cellardyke Recording and Wassailing Society, for instance.

The book itself is darkly comic, in a low-key kind of way. I didn't find myself relating to any of the characters much - a druggy washout, a farm labourer and an arts school graduate form our titular trio. They aren't particularly likable, sensible, or necessarily taking paths that make much sense over the course of the 210 page book. We have the viewpoint of the artist - failed, returning to Fife from London, to see his old friend. He meets the druggy on the coach and so things begin. Without wanting to spoil anything, the book paints a picture of a certain kind of rural life - one I can't speak to the accuracy of, but which is delivered with a low key charm and a wry line or two. It builds slowly, filling in this picture for us, before a twist that is signposted in some ways but a little surprising in others. The climax of the book is odd, tense and more than a little farcical, before leaving us on a very ambiguous ending.

The last two novels I have read have both ended in understated, and in some way unfulfilling ways; the previous one being Noah Hawley's Before the Fall, which I picked up on name recognition from having watched the TV show Fargo. There I felt let down, to the point that a page-turner that kept me up way too late reading turned into a not buying another one by the end. Here I am less harsh on the closing pages... whilst I did feel underwhelmed by the ending on reading it, on reflection it has an ambiguity that is rather appealing. Sometimes we are told too much. Sometimes the mysteries are unwound and the answer is rather dull. Three Craws, at least, leaves you with questions, with things to ponder. More importantly, it leaves you with a sense of place - an authenticity born from local knowledge. That clarity of picture and of voice sustained me through the book - and for that reason I would recommend it to Yorkston fans.

And the Rest Will Follow - The Second Hand Marching Band

Track list:

1. Those Words (demo 2012)
2. A dance to half death (original demo)
3. Were you there at St Peter's Square?
4. We walk in the room (original demo 2006)
5. We Will Convince You (original demo)
6. Transformers (B side)
7. Periphery (2011 demo)
8. Fingers Turn Blue (2012)
9. Enter the room with a loud boom (2006)
10. Church Hall (2012)
11. Children's children's children (demo 2012)
12. a+a (2008)
13. Today (2012)
14. I don't know what I need, I don't know what to say
15. Gregory (B side)
16. I went down to see Jane
17. What do you love for?
18. Only in tears/wrench of my hand
19. A hurricane, a thunderstorm (original demo)
20. Bottle of Anger (demo 2013)
21. Doorframe (B side)
22. Half Lies Through Half Teeth (demo)
23. Grit and Determination (first demo)
24. Little bit (demo)
25. Love is a fragile thing (2008 demo)

Running time: 90 minutes
Released: 2015

This was an impulse purchase... part of an entire discography. The Second Hand Marching Band made that easy by facilitating a pay what you want type deal over on Bandcamp - one cheaper than purchasing just the most recent album alone. I paid more because I have loved some of their free stuff in the past, grabbing it after I saw them live at Big Tent. This looks to run the gamut of their material, I suspect it will be rough, raw, but interesting.

The Second Hand Marching Band are a massive ensemble, playing folksy but modern tracks. The demo of Those Words downplays the size of the group. A simple brass tune and a softly sung lyric. It's a relaxed start to the collection, before we are pitched into the song that made me fall in love with the group. A Dance to Half Death is... really hard to describe. Big brassy riff, charming little chimes and guitar structure, broken voice delivering heartfelt lines. Its a a real oddball, but a real gem. In places the sounds don't quite come together right, but the earnestness of the performance outside of that allows easy forgiveness.

With it appearing as the second of 25 tracks here though I wonder if the peak is too soon into the mammoth 90 minute overall run time. It is Easter Monday; 4th day of the weekend. I should be feeling relaxed by now but I am not. Tiredness is still the dominant tide in my makeup, and I have plans later. This is my morning sorted.

From the rich deep tapestry of one track, we go to a largely solo, unaccompanied song. It has a charm to it but I am glad it runs short of 2 minutes. The transitions between pieces are sharp - they use their run time - and we are into a piece that reminds me of Amiina. There is a soft welcoming comfort in the structure and I find myself not really listening but rather sinking into the sounds and enjoying the overall ambience more than the specific sounds. Looking down the track list it is very likely I have most of these tracks on other albums picked up in the same bulk deal, over and above those that I had as freebies previously. I find that I am rather happy about this. Whilst part of the idea of this project was to trim down and shape up my library, the idea that I might actually promote some of the more obscure stuff is a positive in my mind.

I'm just saying, but this sort of sound is not what I would expect from a tune called Transformers. All lonely guitar work and soft voices. One of the reasons I fall for tracks and groups like this is that I rather value the less than perfect singing voice. There is an audible fragility in our lead vocalist, a flaw that really injects humanity into the pieces, present but not distracting from the main thrust. It is one of the things that really drew me to King Creosote originally, and he became a firm favourite. Flaws open us up, make us easier to relate to.

It amuses me to see "demo" against so many of these tracks. I am not sure the significance of it given the self-supported nature of the group - who are they demoing to? My ears (and likely my speakers) are not sufficiently good to pick up on significant differences in recording quality in those tunes I recognise. I find myself distracted; I have a silent TV on with the snooker - I don't quite know why but I think the idea of having something to pull my eye from these words every now and again was a good idea given the length of this disc; silent TVs can be mesmeric though, even when as dull as two baldies playing snooker (seriously, it's like there are three cue balls).

Church Hall has a more polished sound to it, in just about every way - including the singer's voice... until I typed that at least. I find myself really liking this piece. But I also suspect despite being a digital purchase from the band via Bandcamp this song may be mis-tagged. The lyrics constantly mention "fingers turned blue" which was two tracks back... hmm. Oh well, who cares. There's an insouciance, of all things, about some of these tracks in the middle of the run. It's quite uplifting.

I spent yesterday world-building, taking the product of my first game of Microscope and adding some detail to flesh out a setting for an RPG campaign. I should rather have been reading systems, as that is the part that is at question, but still. I am reminded how when roleplaying I often find more interest in the setup of a new game than the game itself once it gets going. With this project it is often the opposite - I find reasons not to do listens, not to sit down for that long to listen to this thing which I am not sure I will enjoy, but often when I get down to it I find enjoyment I wasn't expecting. The track that is just ending had a really aggressively struck acoustic riff; I loved it to start with, but 5 minutes later it was more of a yoke.

The track with the longest title on the album is a short one, the title "I don't know what I need, I don't know what to say" repeated in duet as structure for a little song over the top of it. It's quite amazingly good. The two lines don't compete at all, and the Scottish twang of the main singer is a real treat. There's a lovely gentle lilt to it, the breathy male/female duet on the structural title carrying a rhythm that you would never normally apply to it. I really like the track. High point 3, I think. The tracks are ticking over and time is ticking on; this hour and a half is not a chore at all.

In a different context the rawness of these tracks might be a detriment, but there is such a quiet, understated charm to the songs that immediately begs forgiveness of their weaknesses. There is no pretense here, just openness. Proper music, done for the love of it - sharing that love with those who would have it. Tone is important, here the tone is casual, warm, inclusive and laid back, even when the songs aren't so much. I suppose that is one of the things about being a 17-piece (or similar) - so many people need to buy in, even if the vision - and indeed the majority of the tune - is coming from a few.

Occasionally the songs strain our singer's voice more than is seemly. I like the hints of fragility when he holds it without quite breaking, but when it pushes that fraction further it is less appealing. Thankfully in the cases that has happened, the simple and welcoming acoustic forms of the track have provided a safety blanket. There hasn't been anything that wasn't a net pleasant experience, even when individual elements have fallen down.

I have reached track 18; there is still a whole album to go in length terms. This track has a punchy tempo, a true ensemble feel to it. In some ways it is a very weak track - the vocal is poor, distant and unengaging compared to other songs, but the energy from the band sustains it, the rhythm providing a foundation for them to elevate the vocal from downer to mere drawback.

The demo of A Hurricane, A Thunderstorm sounds very different to my memory of the final track - much more subdued. The aural picture I had in my head for this one had some bombast around the chorus, here it is a muted appeal. I suspect it is more likely the case that my memory is confusing the track with something else. The appeal here though is the roll, the pattern in the verse, the brass section providing a repeating pattern, a sway that invites you in until you are bobbing like a boat in winds much lighter than the titular storm. I would be lying if I said that every moment of this album was genius, but I don't think everything needs to be genius to be genuinely worthwhile. Genuine is a good descriptor, actually. I am not convinced that I would ever sit down to really listen to this again, but, as with compatriots Eagleowl, I find a nice easy connection to the tunes of The Second Hand Marching Band which makes them a comfort. With Eagleowl, I think the music is a little bit more special, but the same principle applies.

I think I have run out of thoughts, of words, a bit before the end. When I saw the length of this album I thought it would be tough to fit it in, it took conscious prioritisation to get to it this morning. I am really glad I did. There is an authenticity and a charm to this collection of tracks that is really uplifting. A good morning.

Checkmate Savage - The Phantom Band

Track list:

1. The Howling
2. Burial Sounds
3. Folk Song Oblivion
4. Crocodile
5. Halfhound
6. Left Hand Wave
7. Island
8. Throwing Bones
9. The Whole Is on My Side

Running time: 54 minutes
Released: 2009

This album really struck a chord with me when I first heard it. I discovered it, I believe, through LastFM - probably a Scottish tag radio or something like that. The thing that stands out is the way it veers from dark and brooding to happy-clappy or jaunty. It's a little bit unique.

Opening track The Howling was my introduction, a six minute work, with a sort of growling threat in the snappy drums and growling, electronic bass. There is more light in the clear, accented vocal. When the lead guitars come in, that light gets happy and bright, even as the lyrics get darker. The song, with its talks o ghosts, and the album as a whole (Halfhound is strongly suggestive of Werewolves) have an undertone of urban fantasy about them. As that is one of my favourite gaming genres, its fair to say I rather like this. So much so I bought the t-shirt; I still have it, but rarely wear it any more - a bit tight and a little faded, it had the classic "vase or two faces?" image in pink on a black field. 

 

The pace of the track drops for the final choruses, this has a more nervous atmosphere to it, the stately pace finding room for the darker tones in the music to prey on worries. I prefer the "full speed" pieces though, and find this a little tacked on. We dive into Burial Sounds, which suprirses me by reminding me of the Bastion soundtrack, with stark beats and a twang that evokes the wild west in places. In a similar vein, it sounds a bit like it could be a Borderlands soundtrack piece. Spoken works muttered over the evocative bass, top end with that sway and reverberating quality to evoke exoticism. There is, again, a snap to the drums that I find works really well, and the almost choral nature to the low end vocals - oohs, or ohs between the drums, bass and twangy top end - is very atmospheric.

My favourite track on the album, by a mile, is Folk Song Oblivion - this has a growl to the bass in the verses, a chanting vocal, a very nice darkness to it. Then we hit the chorus and that all bleeds out to be replaced by a nice melody, a lighter vocal, and a happier tone. I have written of this before, of  how I appreciate the contrast, but I genuinely feel like this is my go-to example of how to do it (to please me). Sitting and listening to it now, the song feels like it is lacking something though - I think because the majority of my listening is done whilst driving I get by on overall theme and tone rather than specifics. Sitting still doing nothing but listening and typing out words based on what I hear, I find myself thinking that each phase of the song maybe lasts a little too long, or that the base patterns are actually a little dull in their construction. The overall effect is still great, but don't over-analyze it.

We are back to the soundtrack-like material again. Crocodile is instrumental, it has sounds that evoke crickets or cicadas to set the scene, and a driving combination of bass and drums to build upon it. Again we see the dark-light contrast, as the treble parts are very high against this thrumming backdrop, little lines of hope in the murk of the swampy sound built up by the structure. There is a nice progression to the melodies too, they start small and soft then grow into a bolder presence with greater clarity, more complexity and a stronger statement against the rigidity of the bottom end. It's a tune to get your feet tapping - it has one of those rhythms that you want to tap along to. When the driving climax appears and the bass structure changes, the tune takes off - like a camera zooming right out then panning over a forest scene, or following a break-through moment when it becomes clear everything is going to be alright. There is still a thrum in the bass at this point but it has been harnessed for the force of light. I almost forget the length of this tune, because it wraps me up so much.

This is a lazy Sunday morning, but I feel it is not really the ideal time for this album. The growl, the graphic violence of the lyrics for Halfhound... this is nighttime music. Darkness swirls around this track in particular, but there is a stridency to it, a firm, unwavering quality to some of the top end notes that give the impression of standing up to that beastliness. When I realised what the lyrics were for this tune, I guess I started looking for symbolism more in the rest of the album and noticed the running fantasy theme. It is gaming fodder, to the point that I would be quite surprised if the key creative elements of the band weren't roleplayers. The Howling has ghosts, Halfhound werewolves, Left Hand Wave references spectres... and on this listen I am finding little moments of triumph, like the soaring climax of Crocodile that fit the narrative beats of a game session. Of course, this could be me bringing my own biases to bear, but there is a layer of theme here that I haven't come across that much; I understand that is more common in some genres of Metal, but as much as I hate genre-typing, those have never really been my thing. Certainly I have found it rare in indie-rock like this (or perhaps more pertinently that I like).

Island drops the growling undertones, it goes stark - pleaful vocal and a lone lead guitar picking a loose melody. It feels more like a shipwreck than a bountiful paradise but it is a world away from what went before. There are Laika-like twangs to the strings - reminding me very much of the more Hawaiian themed tunes from Cosmopolis with respect to how out of place they sound given the origin of the band. Here it's more the context around this tune that makes it stand out, with Laika & the Cosmonauts its more of a clash of expectation (borne of lack of information on my part) against their Finnish nationality. For all that, I find this song very much the dullest of the songs on Checkmate Savage, exacerbated by its extraordinary length - almost 9 minutes. There is none of the grubby threatening drums, darkness-inspiring bass or sweet, sweet contrast here. There is little interest in the song content. There is not the tight, constrained by length, sharpness to offset the WTF feeling from the switch of tone. It feels less like a palette cleanser and more like an unwanted interlude.

Thankfully it is a single track problem. The energy comes back with Throwing Bones, and this definitely has more echoes of Laika and the Cosmonauts in the intro - less spangly, but similar energy. It also reminds me of the final track on The Good, The Bad & The Queen, with a subtle hint of a gradually building tempo, though I suspect that here it is more my mind being tricked, whilst in Albarn's masterful track it really is a picking up of pace. The similarities with that track end there, but it sets enough of a tone for this piece that even as it devolves into unwise use of nonsense vocals, the underlying structure retains the interest. I am fundamentally quite a lazy person; I love tracks like this that find a way to inject energy into my day and get me feeling like I want to be doing something.

The counterpoint to that is that when such tunes finish there is a danger that you feel enervated, drained and on a come down (with thanks to the lyrics of The Whole is On My Side). This last tune feels like an anticlimax with its slower pace and more gentle landscape. In some ways its a great thing for an outro to do - close things down in an ordered manner - but at least with the context of this morning, I would have rather ended on the high. Our closer is not a bad tune - I actually rather like the lazy rhythm it settles into around the 5 minute mark, with a drifting, loosely tethered top end and a regretful vocal, but the switch to this relaxed structure - especially with Throwing Bones snadwiched on the other side by the overlong and under-interesting Island - is a bit of a faux-pas to my mind. 

Overall though, I still really like this disc. Whilst this post became a bit too much of a blow-by-blow, I think that is actually a tribute to the group: each song provides something new or different to think about, and compelled me to pen something as a result. Even the shorter tunes had enough to support comparisons or ideas and enough interest to compel me to communicate that.

Cellardyke Recording and Wassailing Society - James Yorkston

Track list:

1. Fellow Man
2. The Blues You Sang
3. Sweet Sweet
4. Guy Fawkes' Signature
5. Thinking About Kat
6. Feathers Are Falling
7. Broken Wave (a blues for Doogie)
8. Red Fox
9. King of the Moles
10. Great Ghosts
11. Sleep On
12. Embers
13. Honey On Thigh
14. As Grey and as White
15. The Very Very Best
16. You & Your Sister

Running time: 61 minutes
Released: 2014

I don't recall getting on with this album, which was a shame. It was the last JY record I picked up - not because I decided I was done with him, but because I somehow missed the record released earlier this year. That rectified, Everything Sacred ordered (and since arrived) its way, I can get on with looking back at this one and see if I can put my finger on why I bounced off it.

It being New Year's Eve there is still a little festive spirit around, and wassailing is appropriate for that. Onward.

Fellow Man is a gentle, noodley opening with very light touch on the guitar, a chorus of other instruments slowly building, but the main focus saved for the vocal, making it a tale as much as a song - Yorkston's laid back and conversational delivery (harmonising with a more melodic female voice in many places) carrying us through. I have been off work since the 22nd, but I have had hardly a moment to get to these listens. It seems there is always something to do this "holiday". Right now I am procrastinating over form filling, some work obligations to clear before I actually return to work. I mention that because I need to banish the thought and free myself to concentrate on the music. Hopefully articulating the thought will exorcise the nagging pull/push it has had over my past 3 days.

Gone are the days of The Athletes and the pacier numbers that Yorkston penned for that ensemble of his. This feels much more like a collective, James at the head but not standing out for any other reason than to publicise. I say that because the whole thing has a low key feel to it - like a group of friends happening to get together and play tunes whilst first and foremost enjoying each others' company. There is no pretense, no bombast, and no ego - just soft, gentle melodies and complementary elements. I have really enjoyed the first pair of tracks - they offer up the serenity and peace I feel that I need but haven't had over the festive season. That offering continues into Sweet Sweet, too.

The primary contributing factor seems to be the sparsity and softness of the arrangements. There are quite a lot of separate elements in play but they are all quiet and understated. The way these coalesce into a whole is where the magic happens - the ear picking out one of other of the contributing parts to follow (keys, bass, voice, guitar and percussion at least; I think I am missing some). There is a joyous simplicity to it. Yorkston is actually speaking now, telling a story in Guy Fawkes' Signature. I think I hear Johnny Lynch (aka The Pictish Trail) on the backing chorus, and a quick Google confirms it. The pair of them go way back, after all; apparently KT Tunstall also shows up too; not a huge surprise given past connections, but I doubt I would pick her voice out (indeed, it appears she was on Fellow Man, so I missed it).

I think I know why I didn't fall in love with this album initially - it's a little too low key, a little too noodley (I guess I should define that better but think sitting down alone with a guitar and just picking for pleasure without purpose) and a little too understated to make a first time impression or stand up against more energetic or impactful past favourites. However, having carved out the time to give over to it, I find it absolutely charming, totally relaxing and, thus far, very consistent in quality. The volume has picked up a bit on Feathers are Falling, there is more of a sense that this is actually a purposeful piece, a rounder sound, clear choruses, etc. I am not sure that it is better for it though, for all my "too" statements above I am thoroughly charmed by the fragile but natural approach.

Broken Wave is a tribute to Doogie Paul, the double-bassist from The Athletes. Its a farewell to a close friend who died young. It's quite a difficult tune to listen to because that emotion is quite close to the surface. I can't say I like the song much, but then I don't need to.

The sombre interlude lasts just that one track - I suspect it will feel like an outlier for the whole disc. We pick up with Red Fox which follows Feathers are Falling in terms of sounding more purposeful and rounded. I can't really follow the thread of the lyrics though, the chorus has various creatures lying inside each other which is an odd image to hear in song. I rather liked the sound of the track though. The animal theme (which, to be fair, Yorkston has used before) continues with a song about moles - or at least superficially so; I don't catch the deeper meanings as I found myself zoning out a bit for the first time on this listen.

I often find that I write a lot in the first half of a disc and not nearly as much in the second, and I can feel a similar situation developing here. Short of literally doing a track-by-track (and I have no desire to go that route; I forcibly stop myself many times per post, and yet swathes of posts do feel a bit like that all the same) ideas tend to run dry unless there is something remarkable to comment upon. The album seems to be veering away from the super-laid-back tunes of the opening minutes as the last few have all been more coherent tunes with bigger sounds. There is still nothing brash or harsh, but things have fleshed out significantly, puffed up and now the sounds fill the space rather than drifting in lightly as if on the breeze. I preferred the earlier effect if I am honest.

Having just said that...

The pace picks up for Sleep On. This is notable because the song is short as well as quicker - it hits as a change up and suddenly concludes as a breezy interval. I would probably have enjoyed the song more if I had not been typing as it went; I hear enough to realise that it contains a lot of repetition but still, the palette cleanser was very welcome, forming a nice break between the more obvious fuller songs and a return to the subtler sounds on Embers. Some really nice vocal harmonies sneak in there almost under the radar. I am certainly glad for the return to the low key numbers - they are a great fit for my current mood, and a useful aid in needing to find some mental relaxation and some zen. I find myself tuning out, forcibly dragging myself back to write this sentence, but wanting to give in, and go with Yorkston's flow.

The penultimate song on the disc is... interesting. It sounds like a post divorce or break up song - wishing the ex well with what sounds like genuine intent, but reserving the right to dislike the new partner. I don't know if that reflects a personal occurrence for the writer or not, but it sounds a little close to the bone. The final track follows this up with a sense of longing, which then ends very abruptly with a drop to silence. It feels like a strange way to close out the record.

My overall impression though is very good, and it leaves me feeling as though I never gave the album a chance to grow on me. Which is probably true; I suspect I played a couple of songs on shuffle as it ripped, then left it to the mercy of the RNG in the greater wilderness of my library. I am glad I made the time for this today. Happy New Year to all.

Astronaut Meets Appleman - King Creosote

Track list:

1. You Just Want
2. Melin Wynt
3. Wake Up To This
4. Faux Call
5. Betelgeuse
6. Love Life
7. Peter Rabbit Tea
8. Surface
9. Rules Of Engagement

Running time: 43 minutes
Released: 2016

New KC record, and barely a month after I picked up Bound of the Red Deer, too. Kenny's always been prolific though so two records in a year doesn't surprise in that sense. This is not quite a virgin listen as I took the album into the car right off on Friday (release day, thanks Amazon Prime), but I've only done two short hops, with passengers to boot, so I have far from absorbed it yet.

It starts with a rather... un-King Creosote like hook. I remember this from setting off. A rich, bassy pattern that is more akin to the endings of KC's tracks than the beginnings. There is a nice roll there though, and the voice and vocal alike are instantly impactful. The arrangement of strings, adding a shrill top end over the rounded sound of the guitar and bass is a lushness that I am not used to. It sounds like there is a bit more muscle behind this disc, more resources at the disposal of my favourite Fifer. The song is rather un-KC like in length too,drawing out over 7 minutes. This is long enough for the established pattern of the bass line to go stale, but for the fact it is such a comfortable little loop, the timing of it works very naturally, and the selection of sounds over the top end are varied and pleasant. It is a strong opener in terms of setting a scene, and perhaps expectations.

Melin Wynt has a very different tone from the off, bagpipes prominent and the guitar much lighter. It feels a more whimsical track - prior to any singing as yet - but the feel of studio and label backing remains. Bigger, richer sounds - even if that sound is predominantly a screeching bagpipe tune to begin with. The instrument is an acquired taste. Pipes drop out, thankfully, as the vocal comes in. Vocal effects applied here, too; a floating distance created. The thing that really sold me on King Creosote back when I first heard him was the voice. Kenny Anderson manages to sing beautifully with a fragility that conveys emotion as well as anyone I have ever heard. Here there is less of that broken edge brought by the fragile aspects to it, which I find a shame. Moving on, Wake Up to This feels more upbeat.

Any raw edge lost by virtue of having more recording wizardry available is offset nicely by the benefits of the lusher arrangements. Nice, big, bold sounds here. I could get all preachy and complain about losing the magic of the songs in the process, but I think it is more the case that given more to play with, a new range of songs opened up. Faux Call sounds more familiar, more stripped back. The sound is still richer, but the arrangement is simpler, initially at least. It grows as the song goes on. There are words sung in this one that remind me of several other KC songs in their delivery alone. The magical nature of his best vocal work exhibited, even as I find the tune rather plodding. 

There are some more rough and ready sounds to be had, too. Betelgeuse starts with some. It segues into a fuller, more rounded sound as it carries forward, but its scratchy and distant recording over the first minute or so harks back to CDR albums of the past. The percussion is very KC-like, and actually this song feels the most archetypal of anything thus far on this album. It is safe to say I like it a lot. Understated and accessible, familiar and enjoyable. Oh darn it, followed by a generic love song. Saved by that voice, and the gentle cadence of it. It is very dad-rock, I'm sure, but I am getting old enough to be fine with that now, and I can forgive a lot for singing like this. The backing vocals are kinda irritating, but Anderson's vocal on Love Life is a gem.

Less fond of what follows; I get the meaning of Peter Rabbit Tea, and its source, but the actual effect is not enjoyable as an aural experience for me. 

Surface opens with a rich sound - a definite theme to the recording here. I really like the sense of space it gives, and the higher tempo and rockier sense to the song is welcome. I doubt that this will ever make it in to a list of my favourite King Creosote tracks, but there are some really nice effects over this track - a high top end of wandering sounds, barely audible over the main theme and vocal, give a sense of volume and expanse to it. They are less effective when, added to by a bagpipe, they become the track in the middle. Once the vocal kicks in again I am back in a good place with the track.

Getting towards the end of the disc now; overall impressions are positive - I would expect them to be; King Creosote is the closest I get to fanboyism and proselytising that all should share my musical obsession. I like the bigger sounds, rather than overrunning his natural songwriting and lyricism, they have been employed in service of same. I prefer the lighter touch on balance, but then I have had an awful lot of listens to bed in my favourites in the past decade or however long and a couple of goes at this lot. This disc clearly needs more time and attention, one track aside.

All the Records on the Radio are Shite - Ballboy

Track list:

2. Stars and Stripes
3. Building for the Future
4. Welcome to the New Year

Running time: 11 minutes
Released: 2002

Oh my god. I had three Ballboy tracks without proper metadata lying around in my library - I think from a purchase from their site way back, though I can't be sure. Randomly I stumbled over their provenance on Amazon, and now I have them identified - and a trip back to A to cover them.

I don't have the title track for this EP here, as I have that on the full album A Guide for the Daylight Hours, which will appear under G, because reasons. In any case, Stars and Stripes is the stripped down Ballboy rather than the all guitars blazing version. Gordon McIntyre's voice over a gentle rolling guitar tune. It's alright. It's not the emotional punch to the gut that Ballboy's best tunes are. This might just be because I don't find it easy to relate to these particular lyrics. I find that it goes on a little too long for what it is. There is an attempt to save it by adding a bit more oomph into the arrangement towards the close, but it is too little too late. I can't part with it - I don't dislike it and I feel a strange loyalty to a band like Ballboy who lay the feels out open for us to gawp at.

Building for the Future is a bit more orchestrated, more of a band effort. It feels a little flat and distant though, a slight disconnect between the music and the main vocal. The harmony on the chorus saves it a little there. It is an unconventional pairing, and I think that works with the slightly awkward space between words and music. I just wish the backing track had a bit more to tug the heartstrings... they bring in mournful cellos (or similar) around the 3:30 mark and it lifts the track, but unfortunately it is an either/or with the vocals.

Am I just being harsh because I have had a bad day? It's possible. Third and finally we have Welcome to the New Year - back to just a simple guitar part and a downbeat vocal. Yep, sounds like New Year to me. "Sometimes I hate myself" forms a core of the lyric; that I can relate to; this month has not been easy on me mentally and I don't really know why. This is the best of the three, even though Gordon is straining his voice in places. It has the right tone, and the right substance to connect with my current headspace. Would I find it the best of them under other circumstances? I'm not so sure. That said, though, this kind of mood and circumstance is what I find Ballboy great for.

Atomic - Mogwai

Track list:

1. Ether
2. SCRAM
3. Bitterness Centrifuge
4. U-235
5. Pripyat
6. Weak Force
7. Little Boy
8. Are You a Dancer?
9. Tzar
10. Fat Man

Running time: 48 minutes
Released: 2016

Is this my first 2016 release? I think so. It's not the first album I've picked up this year but its the first that appears here due to alphabet. This is also my first listen to this as I have yet to own it a week. One song popped up in a shuffle but I've not yet paid the purchase any heed.

First listens rarely offer best value, but I'll head into this one, as I don't yet feel like making dinner. Ether starts rather remotely, not what I would expect from Mogwai, a drone and tinny electronics over it. I guess style has to mix up for soundtracks though, and it is plenty accessible. There are echoes of Vangelis in this first piece as the softly melodic theme arrives, the backing evokes the same sculpted spaces the Greek manufactured for scores such as 1492 or Antarctica. As the piece builds there is a little more evidence of the guitar-based instrumentals that Mogwai are known for, but it never departs from the original course enough to indulge those elements.

The film this soundtracks was apparently an Auntie documentary on the atomic age. Passed me by entirely, but explains the title. I think it is safe to say by the midpoint of SCRAM that this is not a work that I would recognise as Mogwai if I didn't know it was them. It fits into a black hole of a genre of thematic instrumental music... pretty clearly soundtrack material without being easily definable as anything else. I find it loopy, with little hooks to fall into. Patterns take over and run my mind as I fall, trance-like, under its spell. To call the themes dark would be to sell short the night. It isn't insufferably dark though, just predominantly. I have to say I think Bitterness Centrifuge would make a great band name; its a pretty awesome track title and I find it conjuring pictures of emotional chemistry labs. Dystopian future, anyone? This track is slower, more menacing in pace, fuzzy, unclear. Deliberately so, and with a number of different strands competing for attention as lighter top end lines arrive to brighten the overall mood of the tune. I could see this growing on me quite a lot.

U-235 may relate to something of the here and now, but the edgy staccato of the tune definitely has me thinking megacorps and rain, persecution and cyberware. This is dark future RPG music and could just as easily be soundtracking an after-dark incursion into a guarded warehouse looking for some secret and dangerous new technology. Very apt. Pripyat is the number that I have heard once before and it starts now, foreboding in tone, slightly Gothic feel to it. This goes from cyberpunk to sci-fi, and then back. The overwhelming feel of oppression ebbs and flows through this track based on what the primary electric "tune" is doing. A murderous hum around just about every sound on this record would drive you to distraction were it not so clear that it is intentional. A nice light evening does not really suit this, but there we are.

Weak Force has more in common with Mogwai's non-soundtrack work immediately. A much clearer sound and electronics following a pattern which suits them. It is lacking in bold guitars though so it probably wouldn't stand out as a Mogwai track in a shuffle. The piece is possibly the "nicest" so far, but it is also the dullest. The dirty air, drones and other artefacts that cloud the previous tunes are noticeable by their absence, and that absence is to the detriment of the track. It leaves fewer rabbit holes for the ear to draw you down, creates fewer images in my head as I listen. I find myself bouncing off the cleaner sound quite hard, it is out of place, not suited. The opening to Little Boy is much more promising. This has a nice clean melody, but a droning sound is back to frame it, and there is another guitar line layered in there. This is richer, lusher, easier to connect to. The melody is one of loneliness, something I have felt today... its been an odd one. The changeable weather - first bright, then wet, and with the wet a darkness that belies the time of day - has directly impacted my mood, as has my inability to get anything done since 11ish. The morning was great; the afternoon not so much, yet I have had "leisure time" and talked to friends during that time. I find myself too complex and it blights certain aspects of my life. Ho hum.

A more subdued track next, more loneliness, a contrast begging me to close my eyes and risk falling asleep at an inopportune time of day. I don't feel like the album jumped here suddenly, and yet neither did I really have any expectation of, nor notice, it turning to these understated slow and emptier tunes. I rather like the effect, but I suspect that whilst the growling, droning tracks might grow on me, these removed numbers will likely never be better than they are on first exposure - less intricacies to learn perhaps? 

Do you ever think you are drinking too much? I have that feeling all the time, and yet this week as many days have passed with me taking none than taking any, and if any just a single beer. I constantly worry I might be prone to alcoholism and yet only ever indulge in moderation. Just throwing that out there, as Tzar winds down and we approach the finale, Fat Man. Lost and lonely piano melody wandering. It is left I think a little too long without significant company. When it gets companion sounds to wrap itself in and co-exist with the piece comes alive in a very... human kind of way. Alas I find that most of it is just a bit too slow, a bit too sparse, to hold my interest.

I think a second, and third, listen are in order to get the best out of this album - the same holds true for most, lets be honest. First time through, give me the dirty, fuzzy, busy sounds over the cleaner and clearer ones, though.