THIS WEEK’S NEW ALBUMS REVIEWED | FEATURE
What To Look For In Summer (Matador)
The live album. A contractual obligation, a reluctant greatest hits for a band keen to explore new horizons at a new label, or the documenting of a ferocious live act, a bonus album in the canon. Never ones to conform, Murdoch and co – like an A-Team in knitwear – are releasing this album to rescue fans starved of live gigs for three-quarters of this wonky year. They’ve cherrypicked the best performances from 2019, including their Boaty Weekender sets: a Covid-baiting hat-trick of live gig, festival and a cruise ship.
Belle And Sebastian are lovely company to be locked in with over 23 tunes. Choice cuts are the Northern Souly Dirty Dream Number Two, stirring indie drum’n’bass of We Were Beautiful, the dreamy Wrapped Up In Books with a sweet harmonica chapter, the jaunty end-of-the-pier Nice Day For A Sulk, an exuberant Funny Little Frog, lesser-known gem Fox In The Snow and a triumphant The Boy With The Arab Strap.
Many, though probably not all, of your faves are sequenced nicely here in hi-fidelity, and you’ll feel well jel listening to the topical quips, whoops and singalongs of the crowd. Crowds – remember them? Summer’s coming soon…
words CHRIS SEAL
A Wonderful Hope (PIAS)
Releasing an album called A Wonderful Hope in the midst of a global pandemic, with the cataclysmic impact of Brexit about to hit, might well be seen as an act of extreme folly – but we all need something to cling on to, and the debut solo LP from Public Service Broadcasting member J. Willgoose is a four-track life raft.
The creative process proved to be a voyage of discovery, born out of Willgoose’s lockdown restlessness, desperation to regain “some sense of control” and the urge/opportunity to amble down sonic avenues he’d long wanted to explore. The result is a sequence of expansive synthscapes that are less bleak and barren and more broad, sunlit uplands.
Some Public Service Broadcasting fans may perhaps be alienated by the exclusively electronic instrumentation, the relative absence of spoken-word samples and the fact that all four songs stretch beyond the 10-minute mark – but in truth the album teases out a thread that has run through all of their releases and still pushes all the emotional buttons. The phoenix-from-the-flames ascent of The Human Touch (featuring Cardiff-based artist Teddy Hunter) from crackling static to euphoric climax is typical of an album that is a life-affirming tribute to the resilience of optimism even in the most difficult of circumstances.
words BEN WOOLHEAD
Cuttin’ Grass Vol 1: The Butcher Shoppe Sessions (Thirty Tigers)
Sturgill Simpson returns to his roots with bluegrass of the highest order on this first volume from his lockdown locker. Unlike much modern Americana, and Simpson’s recent offerings, Cuttin’ Grass is a 100% trad album that reimagines much of his back catalogue. The standard of the musicianship is incredible, with a host of Nashville’s finest playing at blistering speeds under bandleader Simpson, who doesn’t take his foot off the gas of his petrol powered lawnmower until the final two tracks.
The lyrics range from the expected truisms of “A picture paints a thousand words, but a word ain’t worth a dime,” to outright comedy on Sometimes Wine, to true beauty on All The Pretty Colours. A perfect album for a diehard bluegrass boffin or an excellent introduction for the uninitiated: don’t be put off by the 20-song track-listing, as with the grass this high and bright there’s nothing that needs cutting.
words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES
Love, Loss & Other Useless Things (Rose Parade)
This second album from Cardiff-based indie-cana rock band TJ Roberts [top] wades deeper into the transatlantic waters of their cult heroes. The writing is strong, very strong, with involved chord progressions and developed structures that allow the songs to progress rather than seeking to engineer hits and hooks at every turn. That’s not to say Love, Loss & Other Useless Things is devoid of radio-friendly material. Far from it, Boy Without A Band and Passed Out On A Hollywood Star are killer tunes while the more West Coast tracks, like Somebody’s Someone, languish in the soundworld of the Californian coast.
More of this would be welcome: elsewhere, the production doesn’t quite create an aesthetic that transports either the songs or the listener to a different place. With writing like this, TJ Roberts can afford to push the envelope in the studio and find a sound that matches their musical ambition.
words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES
Christmastide (Decca)
Tori Amos sets aside her signature biting critiques in an attempt to bring her fans some joy and beauty over the festive season. Christmastide is not her first such seasonal release, although 2009’s Midwinter Graces distinctly avoided the now-clichéd indie-folk style of Christmas carol covers of its time. This four-song EP, though, sets such ideas aside entirely, exhibiting a darkness comfortingly familiar to Tori’s listeners, while spreading a message of strength and hope through difficult times.
While the first seconds of the opening title track sound uncannily U2-esque, a feeling of familiarity continues throughout the EP as Tori reconnects with two band members, Jon Evans and Matt Chamberlain, who played on her first tour with a band for Plugged ‘98. It’s evident that her style is somewhat under their skin. The band bring these four new songs to life, merging an alternative rock sensibility with her orchestral use of the piano into a full symphonic sound, best put to use on the final track, Better Angels.
words ISABEL THOMAS