Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
Guy Garvey’s Manchester band Elbow have, since 2001, resided in that limbo just shy of mainstream success, consistently putting out high quality albums and earning much critical acclaim – and such famous fans as U2, Blur and R.E.M. This fourth LP has a lot in common with previous releases, featuring the familiar blend of melancholy yet bold instrumentation, and emotionally provocative lyrics about love and loss reminiscent of Doves. However, although the song writing is generally impressive and unpredictable, the melodies are not clearly-defined enough to ensure the same kind of success that Doves achieved with ‘The Last Broadcast’ and its strong selection of singles. It is perhaps unsatisfying then, that many lesser bands who could be considered Elbow’s peers – the melodic but increasingly Coldplay-imitating Snow Patrol, and the Joy Division-emulating Editors – are enjoying far greater success presently, despite their lack of Elbow’s more personal lyrics and bold instrumentation.
Elbow’s sonic landscapes on ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ benefit from an increasingly varied musical palette, now encompassing electronica on ‘Starlings’, a flamenco influence on ‘The Bones Of You’, plus brass flourishes and choir-like backing singing on various other tracks. Also now, colourful filter effects lend the melancholy vocals a further enigmatic quality, although also significantly mask the lyrical content.
Criticisms to be made of ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ include the album’s overall tortoise-pace, which finds the band rigidly returning to reverb-heavy guitar arpeggios and keyboard atmospherics, alongside rock steady drums and bass parts that refuse to lose their cool. A result of this is that I often found myself wishing the band would shake things up a little more as I suspect they’re capable of – but that’s just not Elbow’s style. The drums and strings (and backing vocals) do pick up for ‘On A Day Like This’, but I think it would be fair to say that there is nothing here as immediate as ‘Fugitive Motel’ or ‘Grace Under Pressure’. That said, the rockier ‘Grounds For Divorce’ is a strong single, and television performances including an airing on ‘Friday Night With Jonathan Ross’ should ensure that this collection of songs will not underachieve too badly, if at all.
Various Artists – My Blueberry Nights Soundtrack
Lately, before I see a movie I like to listen to the soundtrack first. It gives no real benefit but I just seem to really enjoy the film more. My Blueberry Night is a new film starting Norah Jones and Jude Law. Yes, Norah Jones makes her acting debut as well as Chan Marshall for about 3 minutes on the film. The films score was done by legendary Ry Cooper and he even has a few songs on this track listing.
The album is bookmarked by Norah Jones and Cat Power. The Norah Jones track “The Story” is a generally upbeat piano driven song. The album closes with Cat Power’s “The Greatest.” The song is a powerful and emotional piece and seems to fit with the theme of the film rather well. Each time you hear the song it will send shivers down your spine. Cassandra Wilson does a cover of Neil Young’s Harvest Moon and gets you to look at the song in a way you never thought before. A new band to me on the record was Hello Stranger. The band feature an incredible female vocal that combined with a striking arrangement make this song really special.
The soundtrack is a nice mix of jazz and bluesy songs combined with some lovely instrumental pieces. Some classic song mixed by some legends mixed with some contemporaries make for a sweet little package.
By John Siwicki
Clinic – The Witch
It doesn’t seem like 8 years since Clinic’s debut album and they made me fear “The Return of Evil Bill.” The band return for their fifth album this year and “The Witch” is the first single proper from that release. The band always sounded different and unique and that was the great part about them they were so hard to label. The song starts with a sound of a light maraca combined with this one chord that borderlines between annoying and really poppy but never really goes either way. Ade’s vocal again sounds so sharp, distant and at times so frantic and chaotic which, some people might not like because there is no other out there like him. The band is still sounding so fresh and so usual that it is hard to resist every time they come back into our lives.
By John Siwicki
Midnight Movies – Nights EP
Midnight Movies follow up their second album with a collection of remixes, covers and other rarities in a new EP. The band called in Nick Zimmer to remix “Souvenirs”. Nick Zimmer is in the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and he adds a nice hybrid of punk guitars and electro beats to the song giving it a since of urgency and in conflict with Gena’s laid back and contrite vocal. James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) does some really nice things with “Patient Eyes.” He adds a lot of drums and breakbeats to the song giving it an frantic and chaotic feel and it fits Gena’s vocal quite well. The surprise of this EP has to be the bands cover of “Nights In White Satin” usually when bands cover such classic songs it makes me cringe. Yet, the band really pull it off without try to to do to much to the original and being true to the spirit of the song. Also, included is the band doing the song in French which, is really stunning as Gena sings with such power. Should Have Known” and “Stormy Eyes” are two leftover from the “Lion The Girl” sessions and are certainly worth a look here. There are a lot of cool little nuggets on this EP and being a fan of the band in the past this was a cool to listen to. Their cover of “Nights In White Satin” is worth tracking down and the version they did in French is unlike any version of the song you will ever heard.
By John Siwicki