THIS WEEK’S NEW ALBUMS REVIEWED | FEATURE
To Carry A Whale (Dirty Hit)
There’s something about Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s songs that, despite their simplicity, really get under your skin. His breakthrough single in 2011, Box Of Stones, eased us into a fairytale forest of calm, with its light fingerpicking over whispered vocals. For this latest release, Leftwich’s gruff low range is given the chance to take the lead on some songs; it makes a nice change but has an almost uncanny effect, as if a completely different man has turned up to sing parts of the album.
It makes sense, though, as an aesthetic choice: these songs are inspired by his recovery from addictions, and the effect is a world-weariness that contrasts with his first two dreamlike albums. The dreaminess returns on Wide Eyed Wandering Child and Sydney 2013, where he comes to terms with the romanticisation of his life of alcohol, pills and coke. The sentiment of recognising beauty in his past self is touching, and hearing the album in its entirety takes the listener on a journey through recovery and self-growth.
words ISABEL THOMAS
Ffiniau (Pili-Pala)
It’s hard to tell if Ffiniau marks the end of a long road or the beginning of a new journey for singer and harpist Bethan Nia. Back in 2007, a chance encounter with Michael Eavis led to her performing her own set at Glastonbury, as well as later joining the Levellers on stage. Fourteen years later, this debut album contains many of the songs from her Glasto set.
Family life has taken up much of the time in between and the background noises of children’s laughter that underpin the beautiful instrumental Tŷ Fy Nhad are affecting and touching. There is something of Kate Bush’s Aerial in this approach, and in self-penned songs such as Between Land And Sea and Outside which have real standout moments. For me, the recordings of Welsh classics such as Ar Lan Y Môr, don’t add anything to the album or show the songs in a new light – Daffydd Iwan’s Beth Yw’r Haf I Mi is a much stronger interpretation.
Nia has a distinctive voice and writing style that pushes beyond the folk idiom of her instrumental settings, and while there are perhaps too many nods to the Welsh tradition here the beauty of Bethan Nia’s writing and performances on this varied album is undeniable.
words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES
England Is A Garden Instrumentals (Ample Play)
Cornershop haven’t much intruded on the national consciousness since 1997’s Brimful Of Asha. In the intervening two-and-a-half decades they’ve mostly turned out their own idiosyncratic blend of Indian-inflected indie rock and bedroom beats, while producing occasional gems such as 2011’s Cornershop And The Double ‘O’ Groove Of…
This new release is aimed at the more devoted fans, as opposed to a new album proper. England Is A Garden Instrumentals is, as the more astute among you may have already surmised, an album featuring the instrumental tracks from last year’s well-received album, England is A Garden.
The songs themselves work perfectly well as instrumentals, but since at least half the pleasure of Cornershop’s songs is in Tjinder Singh’s witty, self-aware lyrics there is, unfortunately, little to commend them to the casual listener. By all means treat yourself to a copy of England is A Garden, but this LP is for completists and eBay merch touts only.
words DAVID GRIFFITHS
Eboni Band (We Are Busy Bodies)
Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Commodores, Rick James, Eboni Band. Yep, there’s an odd one out on this roster of funky-soul luminaries and it’s not the harem pant-spawning superfreak. Art Stewart, Motown engineer of hits like Marvin’s Got To Give It Up, was persuaded by ex-labelmate Gerald Theus to pair up their session musicians with African musicians he’d signed to his Eboni Band label. It was set to be released by Motown in 1981, but the label felt US audiences weren’t ready for such global music, so it was only issued in Africa.
The PR doesn’t say how it fared there, but even though Motown in the early 80s was losing its touch, they were right on this one as the five tracks aren’t quite coherent enough. Sing A Happy Song is the pick, with a solid Manu Dibango vs Fatback Band groove, house party hollers, a “shake it down, shake it down baby” mantra and Fred Wesley on horns. Desire is a nice bump and hustle tune, peeling back a few years to pre-disco times, while Mogofindeou – Sopeunte is an uptempo Studio 54 Danny Krivit pleaser, steering the right side of the fondue that the twee I Love All is drenched in. Most culturally intriguing is Fasso, with African singing and kora over the sweltering summer madness clavinet a la Kool & The Gang.
words CHRIS SEAL
Aggression Continuum (Nuclear Blast)
Drama and turbulence just seem to follow Fear Factory [pictured, top]. Lineup changes and internal conflicts have become an unfortunate hallmark of the band, alongside their genre-defining take on industrial metal and transhumanist aesthetics. Fascinatingly, for a band so keen to explore the limits of technological possibility, it’s the very human complexities of interpersonal relationships that’s been their ultimate undoing.
Aggression Continuum lands less than a year after founding member Burton C. Bell dramatically (and very publicly) quit the band. His vocal tracks still feature, having been recorded back in 2017, and his work is as ferocious as ever, particularly on the punishing title track. However the real star here is lead songwriter Dino Cazares. His precise and dense guitar work is captivatingly visceral, and possesses a scarily mechanical aggression, like a sentient computer going rogue.
If there’s a flaw with Aggression Continuum, it’s that the heaviness and melody are not always elegantly balanced. Tracks like Purity and Manufactured Hope have some toothless, synth-backed choruses that are nowhere near as compelling as the heavier parts. However, when they let rip, no one does downtuned, robotic brutality like Fear Factory.
words TOM MORGAN