WHEN THE
GRAMOPHONE RINGS ISSUE 4
THE RUMOUR SAID FIRE, THE CAST OF CHEERS, MYSTERY JETS, BEST COAST, KEANE
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RIP MCA
More important than any song, album or new band was the devastating news this month of the passing of The Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch, otherwise known as MCA, after the three year battle with cancer. A true legend and part of a group of true innovators , he will be greatly missed. The last 4 - 5 weeks have seen an incredible number of big albums released, and we provide you with reviews of the best of them. After a four year absence Keane return with a record packed full of soaring melodies and big ambition. Mystery Jets are back with the Americana-influenced Radlands, while Best Coast launch their second album into the world.
We’re pleased to have interviewed two very exciting new bands. The Rumour Said Fire look set to continue the list of Scandinavian bands that will capture the imagination of us over here in the UK, while The Cast Of Cheers have sailed the Irish sea with the sole intention of making us dance. I’m also very chuffed to welcome new writer Ashlee Bardin to the team. You can check out two reviews from her as she gets her ears round new releases from The Cribs and Best Coast. Hope you enjoy the latest edition. Andrew - Editor
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2. Welcome 3. Contents THE LISTENING POST 6. Coldplay 8. Ben Howard 10. Lana Del Rey 12. Passion Pit 14. The Gaslight Anthem 16. Lana Del Rey 18. Arctic Monkeys 20. John Mayer 22. Lana Del Rey 24. The Walkmen 26. The Beach Boys 28. Dirty Projectors 30. Friends 32. Crocodiles 34. The Walkmen 36. Beach House 38. Tu Fawning 40. Hot Chip INTRODUCING... 42. The Rumour Said Fire 46. The Cast of Cheers REVIEWS 50. Keane 52. Mystery Jets 54. Beach House 56. Zulu Winter 58. Best Coast 60. M. Ward 62. Norah Jones 64. Jason Mraz 66. Maps & Atlases 68. The Cribs 70. Foster The People (live)
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THE TRACKS YOU CAN ALL AVAIL WHENTHEGRAMOP
Including: Coldplay, Lana Del Rey, The Walkm Ben Howard, Passion Pit, The Ga
HE E N I N G ST...
N’T AFFORD TO MISS LABLE AT PHONERINGS.COM
men, Tu Fawning, Beach House, John Mayer, aslight Anthem & Arctic Monkeys.
COLDPLAY
FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT ADAM YAUCH TRIBUTE On Friday 4th May, came the immensly sad news that Adam Yauch, founding member of The Beastie Boys, passed away after a three year battle with cancer. A multi-talented man who was loved and respected the world over, Yauch leaves behind a wife and a daughter. The Beastie Boys have made an official statement. Tributes and condolences have been pouring in from across the globe, including musicians and fans. One of the first we’ve seen is this, a cover of Fight For Your Right performed by Coldplay on the evening of his death. That there is such an emotional response at a Coldplay gig shows exactly how far the reach of Yauch’s work really went.
BEN HOWARD CALL
ME
MAYBE
CARLY RAE JEPSON COVER Ben Howard is one of the many Communion artists who has had a remarkable 2011/12. His debut album, Every Kingdom, reached the top 10 when it was released back in September of last year and has since gone gold here in the UK. This week he stopped by BBC Radio 1′s Live Lounge and delivered a harrowing version of Carly Rae Jespen’s ‘Call Me Maybe’. Howard was also recently part of the Cummunion love-in during SXSW, during which the label mates recorded a beautiful version of John Martyn’s ‘Over The Hill’.
LANA DEL REY BLUE LIVE
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VOICE
Lana Del Rey popped over to blighty in May to perform on The Voice. As most of her TV performances, it proved to be much-spoken of in terms of her vocal wobble. Singing Blue Jeans with the four judges – Jessie J, will.i.am, Tom Jones and Thingy from The Script – you can tell she’s nervous. Wouldn’t you, with Thingy from The Script watching, judging. For better or for worse, Del Rey continues to be one of the most devisive pop stars of the modern age.
PASSION TAKE
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PIT
WALK
Passion Pit’s debut album, Manners, was a treat. We liked it so much we named it as one of the best albums of 2009. Well, now they are back with new single ‘Take A Walk’, which is taken from their upcoming second album, Gossamer, due out in July. A hook-laden stomper, it sees Passion Pit continue down the dreamy disco pop of Manners, but sees singer Michael Angelakosa draw away from his trademark falsetto.
THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM
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Having conquered festivals and finding themselves inviting their hero – The Boss – onstage, The Gaslight Anthem seemed to lose their way on American Slang, their second album and the follow-up to breakthrough 2008 record The ’59 Sound. Well they are back again with new album Handwritten which is due out 23rd July and new single 45 and to our ears it sounds like a bonafide Gaslight classic. Uptempo and extremely loud, its refreshing to hear a guitar band stick to what they know and love rather than dicking about with synths and ‘going electronic’.
LANA DEL REY GOODBYE KASABIAN
KISS
COVER
Yesterday Lana Del Rey popped into BBC Radio 1′ Live Lounge and delivered a utterly brilliant version of Kasabian’s Goodbye Kiss, returning the favour of when they covered her Video Games. It’s a simple, beautiful take on the track. Speaking to Radio 1′s Fearne Cotton, Del Rey explained “I really loved it when they covered ‘Video Games’, I thought that was great. All of my boyfriends had loved Kasabian and I’d never listened to them. I started and I really like this song. I love this song and I love the melody, I love the way the boys sing it.”
ARCTIC MONKEYS
ELECTRICITY In aid of Record Store Day Arctic Monkeys are dropping R U Mine? This is it’s B Side.
J O H N MAYER VIDEO GAMES LANA DEL REY COVER Stop. The. Press. It would appear that for his next major role, Johnny Depp will be playing the role of John Mayer for the writing, promotional photos, release and touring of Mayer’s upcoming Born and Raised LP. One of Depps first tasks was to release this, a belting instrumental cover of Lana Del Rey’s Video Games, and to be fair to Depp, he’s got very similar skills to Mayer. Before you starting thinking “instrumental? Yawnsville!” give it a listen, as you will find that Depp manages to capture every bit of the emotion in the original. He probably boinked her too. Wait…….That is Mayer? You sure? Well that last bit probably still stands.
FOSTER THE PEOPLE & AZEALIA BANKS
BLUE JEANS LANA R E
DEL M
REY I X
Foster The People’s Mark Foster and Isom Innis make up Simms&Belle, the people behind the latest Lana Del Rey remix. They’ve also drafted in Azealia Banks for a quick verse or two of the ol’ hippidy-hop. Like Foster The People’s own stuff, this is hardly lo-fi minimalism and pretty much all they’ve kept from Lizzy Grant’s original is her pining chorus. Lana Del Rey recently revealed she was interested in recording a duet with British rapper Professor Green, and will perform Blue Jeans on this weekend’s episode of The Voice.
THE WALKMEN H E A R T B R E A K E R A fortnight ago The Walkmen dropped Heaven, the title track from their upcoming seventh studio album. Well now we get Heartbreaker, a delicate slice of fuzzy guitar music. It’s vintage Walkmen, with a slightly more polished vibe than on previous endevours.
THE BEACH BOYS THAT’S WHY GOD MADE THE RADIO It’s 2012 and The Beach Boys have just released a new single. I’ll repeat: IT’S 2012 AND THE BEACH BOYS HAVE JUST RELEASED A NEW SINGLE! As much as I never thought I would get to write those words, i’m kinda glad I did because this song is, well, really good. Yes the lyrics sound like they were written for greeting cards but the chorus, oh my word the chorus! The video is predictably terrible, but that chorus! The song will feature on, Celebration, their upcoming new album of newies scheduled for release in June.
You Against The Larger World won’t be appearin Magellan, however they did feel compelled to give it t Released as part of Record Store Day, it is a self-c a ton of songs when we were upstate last year. here’
DIRTY PROJECT
YOU AGAINST THE LARGER
ng on Dirty Projectors’ new upcoming album Swing Lo the light of day. confessed demo with the band tweeting yesterday “i wrote ’s one that didn’t go further than the demo…”.
CTORS
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FRIENDS MIND CONTROL Another week, another Brooklyn buzz band. One of the few guitar bands on the BBC Sound of 2012 list, Friends lept onto many a rader last year with the release of I’m His Girl and now they have given more, with new single Mind Control. It’s an upbeat pop pie with a hearty filling of funky basslines and yelping vocals courtesy of Samantha Urbani – exactly what caught our eye about them in the first place then. Along with this release the band have released a few details about their accompanying debut album, which will be called Manifest! and released on June 4th.
CROCODILES SUNDAY (PSYHCIC CONVERSATION #9) San Diegan five-piece Crocodiles release their third album Endless Flowers on 4th June and have, in its build-up, released the fantastic single Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9). Upbeat, grungy and full of guitars its a left-of-centre alternative summer anthem in waiting. We loves it. Crocodiles front man Brandon Welchez has described Endless Flowers as “full of colour. I think those two albums, while I love them, were somewhat monochrome. � They are also stopping by the UK and Europe in support of the record.
THE WALKMEN H E A V E N Here at WTGR we got a lot of love for The Walkmen. In fact, we named their last record, Lisbon, the sixth best of 2010. We are then, appropriately excited about Heaven, its follow-up to be released on 4th June. Finally, we have something concrete to get our ears round – Heaven‘s first single, er, Heaven. It’s clear from the off that producer Phil Ek has really helped these guys. In an exclusive interview with Pitchfork, frontman Hamilton Leithauser clarified: “You know, this was the easiest one to make, honestly! Part of it might just be that I’m used to how bad it can be. Phil and our manager set a schedule for recording, and I saw it and was like, “That will never happen.” But it happened! On the day we were supposed to finish the record, we finished it. That never happened before.”
BEACH HOUSE
L A Z U L I Back in early March we posted the first single from Beach House’s upcoming second album Myth. Well now they’ve just released the second, Lazuli, and it’s rather brilliant too. Echoey soundscapes underpin a menacing, reverb-drenched vocal. The band recently hinted that Bloom will be darker than its predecessor Teen Dream explaining that its themes are “death and loss of innocence”. Can’t wait. Lazuli will be released on Record Store Day (April 21) with the B-side, non-album track Equal Mind.
TU FAWNING
A N C H O R We’re not going to lie, we missed Tu Fawning the first time they came around, when they released their debut album Hearts On Hold back in 2010. It’s a damn cool record, and one that has now got us frothing out the mouth (not literally, that would be gross) for A Monument, which is out on May 7th. Its first single, Anchor, captures perfectly what they do so well: gut-wrenching noir-pop. Built on top of a shimmering synth motif it’s a slow-burning gem, with Corrina Repp’s vocal easily catching you off guard with its soul-searching tone.
HOT CHIP NIGHT & DAY New Hot Chip single and it’s called Night and Day. New Hot Chip single and it’s called Night and Day. New Hot Chip single and it’s called Night and Day. New Hot Chip single and it’s called Night and Day.
DIRTY PROJECTORS GUN HAS NO TRIGGER
Dirty Projectors’ 2009 album Bitte Orca was touted by many as the record of the year, its left-ofcentre experimentation enthralling almost all who heard it. They are scheduled to release a new LP this year and with their label, Domino, uploading Gun Has No Trigger to its Soundcloud page, you can only assume that this is its first airing. Compared to what Dirty Projectors have released in the past this is almost a pop song, with a soulful vocal and unfussy drums. No word yet on any album details, so for now, just enjoy what we’ve got.
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NTRODUCING...
THE _________ RUMOUR _________ SAID ________ FIRE “There are too many parties in the city but too many hillbillies out in the country…” Jesper Lidang
THE HOTTEST NEW TALENT
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How has growing up in such a remote place affected your music? I actually just talked this subject over with another musician and friend of mine the other day, we talked about he Killing. Sigour Ros. The Bridge. The Girl the contrast between the positive solitude of a remote With The Dragon Tattoo. Lykke Li. childhood having the calmness to just sit and write vs. The list of Scandinavian cultural exports that have the cultural environment and cool, inspirational people wooed the British public is a long one. Ice cool in style you more often find in larger cities. We did not conclude and beautifully put together there is clearly something anything I’m afraid. You know there are too many parties about the areas apparent other-worldliness and clinical capturing of stark emotion that appeals to us over here in in the city but too many hillbillies and too little art out in the country. I guess “the road not taken” always is a Blighty. The Rumour Said Fire are the latest edition to this list. great subject and can be a great inspiration to a writer or Across their recently released debut album, The Arrogant, musician. the Danish four-piece showcase an unyielding ability to What would you say are the group’s three key mash the remote folkyness of Fleet Foxes and the wideeyed wonderment of The Shins. Conceived by singer and musical influences? songwriter Jesper Lidang, whose upbringing in smalltown It changes all the time, but for The Arrogant I can think of these: Bob Dylan cause he will always be the man in his Denmark adds to the sense of ethereal isolation in the territory – a great poet. Cocteau Twins cause we listened bands songs, the group managed to find 30,000 willing buyers of early single The Balcony back in their homeland to Heaven Or Las Vegas all the time recording the album. Also, Paul Simon cause he’s the man as well. before knuckling down to record a full-length. Released to praise pretty much across the board here The Arrogant strikes us an album that at first in the UK and already one of our contenders for album sounds instantaneous yet on further listens hints of the year The Arrogant consists of 10 tracks that make a toast to the very best that indie-pop has to offer. Mixing at being meticulously put together. How was the writing and recording process? layered orchestration and slighter, campfire acoustic I work very deconstructively with my music meaning that moments it is an album that manages to be joyous and I don’t just write songs with me and my guitar by the fire. melancholic at once. I do that to begin with, but then the destruction begins Ahead of this weekend’s appearance at The Camden Crawl as well as a headline show at The Water Rats at the and I take the songs apart to build them up again and deend of May, we caught up with Jesper to discuss The Arro- stroy them once again etc.. And I always listen to as much music as possible and go to as many exhibitions and see gant, hillbillies and Paul Simon being the man. as many movies as possible while I’m writing. You know I A British broadsheet recently wrote the headline work with pop music as a writer, scientist, painter, director and a musician at the same time. At least that’s what I ‘why we love Scandinavia’. Why do you think want to do. I got some sort of megalomania I guess. Scandinavian culture is making such a mark in the UK at the moment? But I do adore books, records, movies, paintings etc. that It’s always hard to tell. You know I don’t know much about tv shows, fashion or “culture” as a general term in- you slowly discover more and more details about. Stuff cluding stuff like that, but I do know that lots of especially that really grow. In this way the record transforms continuously and become what I would call poetic. Danish and Swedish alternative music is really showing off some creative muscularity right now. We got some really cool things going on and it’s just beautiful if people How much thought have you given album 2 yet? I’m working really hard with my band to do the final in the UK are aware of that and dig it. recordings on it right now actually, so stay tuned… Has such positive reaction to your debut release How have the UK crowds been so far? here been surprising at all? We didn’t know what to expect at all, so the positive reac- They have been just wonderful. Back in Denmark we’re a tions so far from press and the English crowds have been kind of big alternative band, so we mostly play really large venues, but we enjoyed doing the small and dark clubs so cool. It’s like this; you know that what you’re doing is again playing in the UK. We like the face to face kind of good stuff, but the UK has this massive musical history feeling and people really seem to listen. and has some reputation of being a bit “closed land” for foreign music, so you really don’t know what to expect. The Arrogant is out now. We’re really happy and thankful so far.
“I ADORE BOOKS, RECORDS, MOVIES, PAINTINGS ETC. THAT YOU SLOWLY DISCOVER MORE AND MORE DETAILS ABOUT. STUFF THAT REALLY GROWS...”
THE HOTTEST NEW TALENT
INTRODUCING...
THE CAST OF CHEERS
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“OUR EXPECTATIONS? TO MAKE PEOPLE DANCE…”
ith the UK slipping once again into recession, worrying itself silly over the upcoming Olympics and continually being let down by politicians cosying up and whoring themselves out to big business, it is comforting to know that nearby, a quick hop over the Irish Sea in fact, that there is a group of young upstarts that just want to make people dance. Armed with their debut album Family, a jerky collection of guitar-pop due out in June, Dublin’s The Cast of Cheers have come to take your limbs and get them moving. Having self-released Chariot, a collection of raw promise as a young unsigned band in 2010, the group ended up finding their way onto the iPods of over 150,000 excited new fans. With the buzz landing them a record deal, the boys have been hidden away for most of the last 12 months working on their debut – a record that mixes angular rhythms, razor sharp melodies and plenty of guitar. With the group ready to head out on tour in support of Blood Red Shoes, we caught a few minutes with bassist John Higgins to see how the preparations were going. You’re just about to start a lengthy tour with Blood Red Shoes. Excited? Yeh, the Blood Red Shoes tour starts soon and I’m not going to pre-emptively jinx us here but we’re really looking forward to it. I think we share a lot with Blood Red Shoes. We’re both big, loud, guitar based bands and hopefully they’re fans will dig us.
And you’ve been over in Europe too? We did just get back from our first European tour which was unbelievable. We didn’t know what to expect. The whole tour blew us away. The promoters across the tour were so supportive and the crowds we played to were amazing! A lot of cities and people now have our hearts. With the album out mid-June is it completely wrapped up yet? I think we had the finished article mixed and mastered by February. So musically it’s been ready for quite a while. We’re just now putting the finishing touches to the artwork. We had Chariot finished and released within about two months so we feel the turn over with Family has been a lot longer but it’s been a completely different process. A lot more work has gone into Family, hopefully it shows. We’re itching to get it out! How have things changed for you since Chariot? Chariot opened a lot of doors for us. It gave us the opportunity to do what we do and love 7 days a week. It’s brought us to amazing places and let us play some amazing shows and meet some amazing bands and people, the list goes on. We owe so much to that record. With the underground success of Chariot leading to a deal, does Family feel like your second debut album? It does and it doesn’t. With Chariot never getting a physical release there’s almost a feeling of it not being real. As in, we
know it exists, we know it’s out there but we’ve never held it. I think with Family it certainly feels like a bigger deal, a “proper” release. Something we can hold. It’s definitely the second time around for us but the process has been so different. It’s on a completely different scale. What are your expectations for the album? Do you have any? If anything, we hope it makes people dance. Once it’s out it’s out and there’s nothing we can do. It’ll take on a life of its own just like Chariot. We have to let it go and see where it brings us. And how is working with the good people at School Boy Error? I honestly don’t think we could be working with better people. They’ve taught us a lot about the other side of the music business. They’ve certainly blown the stereotype of the big bad record company out of the water. And finally, your favourite characters in Cheers? I wouldn’t say we’re huge fans of the show. As shocking as it may sound I know some of the guys haven’t even watched it. The name was more of a joke than anything else. Cheers did however spawn Fraisier which is by far one of the best sitcoms ever but The Cast of Fraisier doesn’t have the same ring to it. Family is out on June 18th.
REVIE
THE MOST IMPO
Myste Ke Maps & The Zulu W M. W Norah Jason Best Beach
EWS...
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ery Jets eane & Atlases Cribs Winter Ward h Jones n Mraz Coast h House
It must be frustrating being a member of Keane. While their first two albums, 2004’s Hopes & Fears and 2006’s Under the Iron Sea, sold by the bucketload and catapulted the group into arenas it was clear that they were never going to be a band that critics cooed over. When 2008’s Perfect Symmetry arrived on the back of singer Tom Chaplin’s spell in rehab it featured wonky synths, bigger beats and brighter textures and showed a band willing to push themselves away from the ‘piano ballad three-piece’. It sold a fraction of its predecessor’s grand totals. When Keane branch out,
it would seem that their fans desert them. It’s no surprise then that, after some time out of the limelight they’ve returned with an album that uses their first two records as its template. Gone are Tom Chaplin’s mini-raps and hip-hop influences, in their place come the lush, swooping choruses that convinced 8 million people to go out and buy their initial works. It would be easy to call this a retreat but they haven’t thrown the baby out with the bathwater. What Strangeland cleverly salvages from the
Symmetry sessions is the pr coloured fun that made thei album a far more interesting than its predecessors. It wou ing the group a disservice to as a step backward into the c tones of Under The Iron Sea warm introduction of Hopes Strangeland uses all that’s co it to deliver an impressive se upbeat songs. Opener ‘You Are Young with a twitchy disco vibe, be ing into a soaring U2-esque that sees Chaplin handing o to unnamed young lovers “d
KEANE STRANGELAND
rimaryir third g listen uld be doo label this cold, harsh a, or the s & Fears. ome before et of largely
scared of all the things you don’t know, you’ve got time”. It’s a lyrical theme – in which Keane cast themselves as wise old heads, nostalgic to the end – that features across Strangeland and one that suits them. This is most obviously displayed in the pop-rock pocket rocket of ‘Sovereign Light Café’, with Chaplin setting the tone early on by “going back to a time when we owned this g’ glides in town” before dreamingly rememberefore burst- ing “we were wide-eyed dreamers”. chorus It’s the sound of a band remembering out advice that rush of being young and in love don’t be and channelling it into a 3-and-a-half
minute pop song that is just a sugary as it should be. Keyboards sparkle and voices shimmer. The expected slowies are fewer than expected and add some darker tones to the palette. ‘Watch How You Go’, an open final letter to a past lover sees Chaplin playing the true British gent, not a bad word to say even at the last. It’s the only moment here when you’re truly reminded of Hopes & Fears. Despite now being a four-piece after the addition of touring member Jessie Quinn and the endless effects their primary instrument is spun
through, it is their reliance on Tim Rice-Oxely’s keyboards that means Keane, when stretched over 12 tracks, never quite have the musical arsenal to hold your attention, especially not when they let their foot off the pedal a little towards the end. Whether Strangeland wins back those that turned their nose up at Perfect Symmetry is yet to be seen, but it deserves to – there is quality songwriting aplenty. Either way, across this record Keane have found a position that they finally seem comfortable in. Andrew Evans
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THE M In the well-thumbed issue of ‘Album Release Campaigns For Dummies’ one of the subjects it doesn’t suggest is one of your groups key members quitting days before the album hits the shelves. Rather unfortunately, everybody’s favourite Eel Pie quartet find themselves in such a position, returning with their fourth album, Radlands after a turbulent few weeks in which bassist Kai Fish quit the band. From the same book frontman Blaine Harrison hs obviously read the ‘cast off your audiences predispotitions’ and has stoked the fires of pre-release buzz by admitting that the group, in order to make an interesting record, were keen to go to “the furthest place from everything we knew”. Recorded in Austin, Texas, Radlands – a cheeky play on the famous Springsteen title – draws on their
surroundings to fashion an all new Americana inspired sound. The album begins softly with the enchanting title track that opens with the strum of electric guitar. Harrison’s stripped back vocals build perfectly to a resounding, effort less chorus, akin to the indie-rock sound tha The Jets do so well, before leading in to the more up-tempo You Had me at Hello where group harmonies fill the chorus developing a sense of familiarity with their previous material. It’s with the album’s first release, the excellent Something Purer, where the album really picks up its momentum and finds its voice. Opening with a loop of lofi guitar and rumbling bass in the background it showcases a ‘whoa-oh-oh’ chorus, engaging lyrics an lap steel guitar to culminate in a fun loving
MYSTERY JETS RADLANDS
pop song that typifies the bands undeniable appeal and gift at writing sutiably engaging hooks. m In amongst the Americana there are still nods to the small island that gave birth to t- them, Greatest Hits is an upbeat, nostalgic at beauty that delivers a very Beatles-esque sound while Hale Bop is a small slice of disco-pop opening with gospel chantings of ‘’Saviour!’’ giving co-vocalist, Will Rees a chance to shine, all the while Blaine breaking out some rock style riffing in the background. This naturally leads into The Nothing, where m you find yourselves back on the dusty route 66 with a blues infused track which continues on the same religious theme opening - with a prayer like confession ‘O dear Father, nd where do I begin’ displaying a spiritual side to the Jets not explored before.
The centrepiece and longest track of the album, Lost in Austin opens mournfully with a foreboding bass and guitar but eventually injects some American anthemic rock and roll vocals exposing a heavier and more raucous sound while its adversery Luminesense, a heartfelt acoustic folk track complete with simple vocals creating a sound that is romantic, exciting and fresh ensure Radlands ends on a note of the highest quality. It’s clear to see the band’s quirkyness and ear for catchy hooks remains intact. They’ve moved away from their signature poppy music style to concentrate on a more intimate listen. The recording of Radlands in Texas has injected the band with a heavy influence of Americana to their beloved Anglo-pop sound, and you know what, they pull it of with applaudable ease. Catherine Hawkes
BEACH HOUSE BLOOM
It was Beach House’s third album, 2010’s Teen Dream, that put the Baltimore duo firmly on the alternative musical map. Its detached, slower-paced soundscapes were thrown against sweet, hummable melodies to produce what many called a rather delightful dream-pop record. What becomes clear fairly soon when pressing play on Bloom, a collection of songs written in hotel rooms, during soundchecks and when enjoying minimal downtime, is that this is an album that attempts to consolidate this upward trajectory rather than pack up their modus operandi and go searching for a new sound. Once again we have here a Beach House album that mashes pop melodies and neverland production. And once again, we have one that does it brilliantly. ‘Myth’ kicks things off on the straight and narrow – a relative term for a group whose bestselling album reached 78 in the UK charts – with a sweeping keyboard motif and woosy, reverb-drenched vocals courtesy of Alex Scally before bursting into life on the two
minute mark with a chorus dripping with wide-eyed wonder and joyous naivety. Previous single ‘Lazuli’ takes the foundations of their previous albums and builds something far more solid than they’ve ever released. With vocals handled this time by Victoria Legrand, it’s a shiny swell of lush production and meticulous hooks. Like much of Bloom, it sounds like most of your favourite records slowed down 800%. With most songs here running between four and six minutes anyone expecting razor sharp arrangements and instant gratification will be rather peeved. Bloom, much like the process it takes its name from, is in it for the long haul. Melodies bury themselves away in the nooks and crannies of your brain rather than leap to the forefront to be sung from the rafters. The chorus of ‘Other People’, for example, is a genuine beauty; a walk-in-the-rain of song, it drips with melancholia. That it’s no more catchy than the songs verses highlights that Beach House never have, and perhaps never will turn
away from what makes them such an interesting proposition. Of course, with such a precise sound about them the duo do lack one ingredient that can often make records such a thrilling listen: the possibility of surprise. Beach House have their plan A and when it works, boy does it, but their lack of a plan B means that there is no interesting change of instrumentation or pace that would give Bloom a little more variety. Of it’s second half, only ‘Wishes’, an dream-pop nursery rhyme, seems to be plucked from the top drawer, meaning that this is a record that rather fizzles out. There is plenty to be enjoyed on Bloom, make no mistake about that. It’s an album that is more than likely to keep the group’s momentum going – the two singles released so far have pricked more than a few ears already. You can’t help but feel however that after four records, if this duo are to ever truly bloom, they may have to do some additional watering of their sound.
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8 Zulu Winter are nothing if not patient. Language, the Oxford five-piece’s debut album comes an astonishing 12 years after the group first practiced together as pre-uni school pals and well over 18 months since their name was first banded around as serious contenders to make the step up beyond the toilet circuit into the dizzy heights of magazine covers and moderately clever-named music blogs the world over. While on the surface the time taken for Language to see the light of
day would suggest a tale of opportunities not taken or horrid bad luck – or both – but dig a little deeper and the optimist inside you could argue that there has never been a better time for a band like Zulu Winter to release an album. And what would a band like Zulu Winter be we hear you ask? A group that look very much like a guitar band, but aren’t. With their throbbing bass lines, fluid synthesiser and tighter-than-a-camal’s-ass-in-asandstorm rhythms, Zulu Winter are most certainly a pop group.
This fact is best highlighted by the groups two singles to date, which both feature on Language. ‘Silver Tongue’, with its drums and bass verse launching into an undeniably gold-plated chorus, showcases the fact that there is no studied cool or skin-deep posturing present here. Debut single ‘We Should Be Swimming’ uses similar colours to paint an equally dreamy picture and reinforces the fact that they are a group happy to go for the unashamed, hands-in-the-air jugular, and possess a shrewd ability to hit their mark the
ZULU WINTER LANGUAGE
vast majority of the time. The bubbling, hip-shaking opener ‘Key To My Heart’ proves that they can do ‘epic’ pretty well, with its opening 90 seconds –and indeed, beyond – sounding like you’d imagine U2 would if they’d stopped going to church and spent their formative years dancing their little socks off and drinking too much fizzy pop. It could well be the best thing here, its finger-snapping taughtness too carefree to resist. Across Language the instrumentation is flawless. A note is never wasted,
or added without genuine necessity. Less is always more. ‘Let’s Move Back To The Front’, an ethereal, atmospheric beauty underpinned by a clipped disco beat hangs back in the wings for much of its five minutes, before bursting into life with a fuzzy guitar solo. For a group that have waited so long for their moment, this is an album of incredible confidence. They never seem overly desperate, or try too hard and for that they must be applauded. As the gorgeous closer ‘People That You Must Remember’ drifts off on
a cloud of rolling, looped synth and guitar echo you’d be forgiven for forgetting that what you’ve just heard is a debut album. They seem incredibly comfortable. Language is every bit a polite an album as you’d expect from five chaps from Oxfordshire to be; there are no rough edges or political agendas in sight. You don’t however need 20/20 to see that this is a collection of quite terrific songs. They say that patience is a virtue. Zulu Winter then, are virtuosos. Andrew Evans
Best Coast’s 2010 debut album, Crazy for You, was the type of record that made a person feel like going to the beach to dance at a luau under a palm tree. Their breezy tunes, indebted equally to the melodies of The Beach Boys and the guitar fuzz of lo-fi indie , provided the listener with fun hooks and served as a very effective summer soundtrack. Their new album, The Only Place, hasn’t strayed far from that sound. The sophomore album has the same 60’s surf pop vibe and lyrics centered on failed relationships and
longing for the beaches of California. In general terms the album can be broken into three categories: relationships, being homesick, and the slightly more personal ones such as ‘Better Girl’, ‘How They Want Me to Be’, and ‘Dreaming My Life Away’. ‘Dreaming My Life Away’, as the title suggests is a slow-burn and miles away from the scuzz of their debut, possising dreamlike melodies that singer Bethany Cosentino lengthens to serve as the glue that holds the sleepy, airy tone together. She still finds
inspiration in the little things too, “I tried to call you, but you were sleeping” she sings, as though its a crushing realisation. Two songs – ‘The Only Place’ and ‘Let’s Go Home’ – talk about their home in Los Angeles and the desire to return because it is “the only place” for them . On the later of the two songs Cosentino pines, “when will I go home? I’ve seen all the mountains, yes I’ve seen all the trees, I’ve seen all the water, but nowhere compares to home.” In ‘The Only Place’, Cosentino
BEST COAST THE ONLY PLACE
belts out another lyrical love song to the sunny West Coast. Thats not to say that its all an ode to LA. The rest of the songs are comprised of airy surf pop tunes about relationships. In the song ‘No One Like You’, Cosentino sings, “been around this crazy world, but I still wanna be your girl cause there’s no one like you.” The song, with its light electric guitar strums and the sound of the hi-hat cymbal every 5-7 counts, sounds like 60’s slow dance music that could be heard on the Grease soundtrack.
That Cosentino asks “can I still be the queen to your king?” hammers home a belter of a prom-scene pop song. On ‘Last Year’ however, things aren’t quite as pretty. Serving as one of the harder songs on the album it contrasts the light hearted melodies we’re used to and for once speaks of the pitfalls of the LA lifestyle: “when I go out I don’t feel anything, I just keep spending my money, one day it will be gone” before playfully adding “and then i’ll have to write another song.” It’s perfect summation of what Best
Coast are about: a hint of darkness smothered in unrelenting sunshine. The lovely band from LA have not let its fans down. All of the songs on this album are still perfect for heading to the coast and do well to prove that the West Coast may just be the Best Coast for this thoroughly delightful surf-pop. Ashlee Bardin
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M. WARD
A WASTELAND COMPANION
In a sense M. Ward is a victim of his own success. With his success as a prolific producer and collaborator meaning many a finger is in many a pie, his own solo work has been rather sidelined of late. Since his last long-player was released in early 2009, he has put out a second volume of his Grammy-nominated yet opinion-dividing She & Him project with actress Zooey Deschanel (followed by last year’s collection of Christmas songs) and recorded and toured with tongue-in-cheek supergroup Monsters of Folk. Then there was Tired Pony, a 2010 mishmash featuring members of R.E.M. and Belle & Sebastian, along with the dreary Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody. Though the She & Him collaboration has its moments, arguably only his work with the folkie monsters comes close to matching the diverse riches to be found in Ward’s solo releases. With 2005′s Transistor Radio he created a truly timeless masterpiece, albeit one which slipped undetected past most people’s radars. Though he has since opted for glossier production, both Post-War and Hold Time showed his songwriting well is far from running dry. A Wasteland Companion is no overhaul of his latter-day template. Ward mines all manner of vintage sounds, be it contemplative, melancholic and deftly finger-picked acoustic numbers, barroom blues, rockabilly or rudimentary power pop, all topped off with his underrated vocal rasp. There is no sign of a return to the Portland troubadour’s lower fi beginnings – in fact, album number six (his first for the terrific Bella Union label) boasts a roll call of contributors longer than a Neil Young guitar solo. The list of 18 musicians reads partially like a who’s who of modern day Americana – Giant Sand frontman Howe Gelb, Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis, ex-Cardinal Jon Graboff and Dr Dog’s Tobey Leaman all lent a hand, as did Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley. PJ Harvey producer John Parish was one of eight who helped engineer the sessions. The album’s sequencing is a bit of a puzzle: after beginning with the hushed acoustic strum of Clean Slate, a beautiful tribute to
Big Star’s Alex Chilton, Ward foists a clutch of four songs upon us with a relentlessly rollicking tempo. Of those, Primitive Girl is a concisely clipped, downright catchy pop song. The first of two consecutive covers – Daniel Johnston’s Sweetheart, with Zooey guesting – is listenable but lyrically trite and a bit corny. Much better is a radical re-rendering of I Get Ideas, best known through slow jazz and swing versions in the 1950s by Louis Armstrong and crooner Tony Martin. Joined on vocal duties by Susan Sanchez, Ward steps on the accelerator, cuts loose on his electric guitar and turns the song into an exhilarating rock’n’roll monster of the sort Chuck Berry or Buddy Holly would treasure. Then comes an abrupt lurch back into dreamy lullaby territory on The First Time I Ran Away, a vibe broadly adhered to for the remainder. Things take a turn for the darker lyrically on the delicately finger-picked There’s A Key as he sings of “losing my marbles one marble at a time”. Later, he’s off “conquering an ocean one wave at a time”. Strings and synths provide pretty wallpaper to that rich, honeyed drawl on the deeply affecting Crawl After You, which includes a cryptic suggestion that he was “raised by a tribe of Vegas cowboys, who claim I was born from a union of dust and wind”. Ward has a somewhat enigmatic public persona, tending to reveal fairly little in interviews. In the PR blurb accompanying its release, he talks of undergoing “a process of stripping away my security blanket, which is the same four walls I always record in”. His work seems custom-built to appeal to those seeking comfort and solace during troubled times, to those who feel they don’t quite fit in and to the lovelorn who have found their hearts, like Ward’s on the delicious outgoing coda Pure Joy, in “a rut, a recession”. As the song’s title suggests, the album bows out on a redemptive note: “Thought I was falling fast to the bottom of the ocean /And just my luck my hands were all chained up behind my back / But now I’m coming up for air / I see my angel on the sand / She’s running out to meet me / To save me again”
It’s not clear what he had in mind when knocking together the running order, but the lack of cohesion means that, as a start-to-finish listen, A Wasteland Companion is less than the sum of its parts. Watching some of his virtuoso live performances also leaves a nagging sense that Ward might be wiser to consider dropping some of the adornments on his next record. That said, he continues to be masterful at funnelling exquisite new wine into dusty old bottles, and there’s plenty of stellar material here to enhance an already impressive pedigree. He has already won some new fans thanks to March’s support slot on Feist’s tour, and hopefully A Wasteland Companion will generate more exposure for this supremely talented fellow. Neil Riddell
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NORAH JONES
LITTLE BROKEN HEARTS
2009’s The Fall was an important album for Norah Jones. Moving her on from the country-tinged acoustic balladeer that she had painted herself as across Come Away With Me, Feels Like Home and Not Too Late, it saw her experimenting with vintage instrumentation, darker tones and new collaborators; Jacquire King – whose CV includes Kings of Leon, Modest Mouse and Tom Waits – oversaw the sessions. Most importantly however, it was a collection of some of her best ever work. That she lyrically explored subjects such as insomnia and the limitations of masturbation made it all the more surprising. It was exciting news then when Jones announced that to continue this so-called exploration of things slightly more alternative she had drafted in Brian Burton (DangerMouse), whose history includes production work with The Rapture and The Black Keys, to oversee the sessions. While Burton’s contributions are subtle – there is none of The Rapture’s disco funk or The Black Keys’ visceral energy present here – it’s another interesting, and pleasing, choice for an artist previously considered to be a safer pair of hands than a superglue-smothered slip fielder. If The Fall, with its creeping tone and darker subjects was concerned with matters of the night, then Little Broken Hearts, to begin with at least, sees Jones throwing open the shutters and letting the sunshine stream back in. “Good morning”, starts the hazy acoustic opener of the same name before making it clear that whatever kept her up on The Fall hasn’t totally disappeared, crooning “my thoughts on leaving are back on the table, I thought you should know”. While these moments of primary-coloured musical sunlight are pleasant listening – lead single Happy Pills, with its glossy pop-rock chug, is a straight-up shot at getting radio playlisted – perhaps unsurprisingly after initially delivering three albums of sunshine-flecked acoustica, it is the moments in which Jones chooses to withdraw back to the shade of the evening that are the
most interesting and therefore shine brightest here. The jittery keyboard motif that floats through After The Fall is hypnotic, as is Jones’s spacey vocal and effective slide guitar. She’s 22, a sparse three minutes, sees Jones replaced by a younger woman which despite a clumsy couplet involving the girl of 22 making her feel blue manages to capture the confused emotions of seeing someone you love being happy, even if it isn’t yourself making them so. Across Little Broken Hearts Jones paints herself as a woman scorned, her soft vocals supporting the lyrical theme of being, romantically at least, down on her luck. All of which comes to the boil on the brilliant Miriam. A punch in the gut for Jones, it charts the fallout from coming home to something that was never meant to be seen. Delivered as an open letter to the story’s protagonist, Jones starts off creepily complimentary, drawling,“Miriam, that’s such a pretty name” before going for the jugular,“when you were having fun, in my big pretty house, did you think twice? Was it a game to you?” and finally adding a twist to the initial pleasantry and delivering an ice cold send off that is alarmingly un-Norah Jones-esque “that’s such a pretty name, and I’ll keep saying it until you die”. It’s a genuine did-she-just-say-that moment and certainly the most emotional thing on display. That’s not to say Little Broken Hearts isn’t without blemish. Burton’s production often seems to hold back rather than encourage, a not unimportant comment when you consider that Jones would be a far more compelling artist if she let her hair down just a little more. With these restrictions, and the fact that a few numbers here fall short, this is an album that fails to set Jones a new personal best. What it will do however is continue to surprise those lazy enough to think she’s still the same person that wrote her earlier work. This is another impressive step down her artistic road. Andrew Evans
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JASON MRAZ
LOVE IS A FOUR LETTER WORD Love Is a Four Letter Word, the fourth studio album from now hugely successful singer/songwriter Jason Mraz, comes no less than four years after We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things, a lengthy wait for his legions of fans, shortened only by the amount of time that single I’m Yours – his worldwide breakthrough – spent on radio playlist around the globe. That song means that Mr. Az no longer has to prove that he can pen a hit song. What Love Is A Four Letter Word has to do though, is to keep the momentum going. Do we get the old, now seemingly alternative tunes back or is he searching for a few more I’m Yours’? After listening to this record you really do not get an answer to that question. Fresh-out single I Won’t Give Up for example, follows on from I’m Yours, seemingly written with one eye on the charts. It’s promising and conjures images of Mraz joining the US MOR hierarchy alongside John Mayer and Gavin Degraw. ‘Love’ and ‘care’ is stamped all over the Four Letter…, which is nothing new for the hardcore fans, Mraz is quite clearly living for these two things and now we have a perfect synergy between the title, the music and his mind. Is the
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simplistic clichéd title however, a precursor of what’s inside? Unfortunately, yes. You see, from beginning to end Four Letter… routinely bombs you with love songs about fairy-like worlds, the good life and trying to forget mistakes. In a time of insecurity and distrust, there is Mraz to comfort you, yet from his ivory tower his comforts seem paper thin. He covers that gap and comes with strong production, a warm atmosphere surrounding the melodies and sugary writing skills to bring light in the dark. Living in The Moment and Everything is Sound possess the biggest but after a while they become dull; a reprise of his earlier work rather than anything fresh or innovative. The record reaches its nadir on Frank D. Fixer, the musical equivalent of knowing that your coffee is so sickly sweet, a trip to the dentist is on the cards. What should be pleasant becomes agonising. It’s this lack of variation that kills Four Letter… for Mraz. This is acoustic slush that settles only for a second before being washed away by the rain of mediocrity. Mark Kovac
MA When Beware & Be Grateful’s first single Fever hit the internet two weeks ago it was the sound of a band making a bold step forward. A mesmeric few minutes that at the time we rightfully described as ‘a glitchy, technicolour, electronic masterpiece’ it did what all lead singles should do: tiptoe along the fine line of wetting the appetite while also setting expectations for the rest of record soaring up into the ether. Once you’ve settled yourself down, turned up the stereo or wrapped your headphones round your face for the 42 minutes of Beware & Be Grateful it becomes clear that his is no one-song album. Far from it in fact. This is a record that, at every given opportunity throws smart, intelligent, often rather confusing pop songs your way.
It’s not too often that a band whose press release describes themselves as ‘an amalgamation of polyrhythmic beats, elaborate melodies, and post-rock ingenuity’ release a record that is, underneath those unconventional adjectives, such a joyous unification of big hooks and soaring melodies. Take Winter as an example. Sitting in the shadow of the blockbuster Fever by directly following it as third into bat, it is built on dry, clipped drums and circling guitar as Davison shapes one of many devastating vocal lines with a voice that, with its rasp and mesmeric range, gives the group a genuine personality and identity. The beat is played pretty straight, the melodies not particularly elaborate and
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APS & ATLASES BEWARE & BE GRATEFUL
the post-rock ingenuity is hinted at rather than shoved down your throat. Throughout the entire record, these are not songs that have been overly complicated for the sake of it. They do however play host to a smorgasbord of ideas. Remote and Dark Years begins as a country-croon ballad before some silvery synths slowly turn it into a half time space-jam. Be Three Years Old builds its house around summery, reggae-tinged guitars and an off-kilter calypso rhythm. Vampires, a foot to the floor tubthumper sees them indulging in their guitar hero fantasies for just a few moments with a screeching central lick. The real highlight however (aside from the aforementioned Fever) comes in the form of Old Ash. Reminiscent
of Kings Of Leon’s I Want You in terms of its restraint, the group pin down a firm of foundation with click-clack percussion and a repetitive, Caribbean guitar hook, over which Davison really showcases his lung-busting capabilities, soaring into a screeching falsetto in its latter stages. Beware & Be Grateful is home to a lot of bells and whistles, however the reason it works so well is that Maps & Atlases don’t fall into the trap of letting them carry the songs. The beating heart of these songs is the very substance that so many noise-poppers, math-rockers and arty indie types often substitute in order to sound interesting: melody and emotional substance. Worry no more, Maps & Atlases offer you both. Andrew Evans
THE CRIBS
IN THE BELLY OF THE BRAZEN BULL
In the style of the Leeds three-piece themselves, we’re gonna lay it out straight: The Cribs’ new album, In the Belly of the Brazen Bull, is nothing short of great. Their last album, 2009’s Ignore The Ignorant, which featured Johnny Marr of the Smiths and Modest Mouse as their guitarist, showed the softer side of the band, and although it was received well, it was evident that they were straying from their roots. On this new album the band returns to the original sound of their first few records. The thunderbolt first single, ‘Come On, Be a No-One’,
released back in April, showcased the fact that this was back to basics Cribs 1.0. The rest of the album stays true to this. ‘Chi-town’ is reminiscent of the Ramones or Sex Pistols with the raw vocals and prominent guitar chords while songs such as ‘Arena Rock Encore With Full Cast’, ’Jaded Youth’, and ‘Uptight’ are some of the most hard-edged songs the band have written, with Ross Jarman’s snare throughout acting as one of the more prominent features. There are softer songs too. ‘I Should Have Helped’
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is a stripped back acoustic stoner jam, Jarman’s voice and the slow beat of a drum punctuating the microphone fuzz. ‘Like a Gift Giver’ is home to a unashamed pop stomp while ‘Confident Man’ slows the pace with eerie, minor key guitar and a slow slacker melody. There’s even room for a ballad: possessing great lyrics and a killer chord progression, ‘Back To The Bolthole’s’ slow moving melodic shift wraps you up as Ryan Jarman holds out the lyrics. Doing so helps to create a pause and some anticipation in the song and adds emphasis to each
sentence he screams. The guitar riffs mixed with the keyboard creates a woozy backdrop. The real winner though is ‘Jaded Youth’. A nostalgic indie-rock anthem for the misfits, in which Jarman asks ‘if i went back to school, would I feel cool?,’ it’s a must hear. If you ever needed proof that The Cribs are, in essence, a punk band you have it in the fact that clearly work best in their simplest, rawst form. The Cribs 1.0 – no upgrade needed. Ashlee Bardin
FOSTER THE PEOPLE BRIXTON ACADEMY 29.04.12
LA three-piece Foster the People are merely one album into a career that only arrived on British shores in May of last year, which makes it all the more amazing that Brixton Academy is stuffed to the gills in anticipation of the electro-pop beats from the quirky trio. After releasing catchy-as-hell debut single Pumped up Kicks they quickly became a UK favourite and with the release of its parent album, Torches, proved they could repeat the trick at will. Wasting no time they make a spectacular entrance with Houdini, with pulsing synths filling the room as the atmosphere at the Academy immediately electrifies. With hooks large enough to hang whales from and as persistant as a petulant Paxman the performance is made extra special with silver tickertape showering the hands-aloft masses. Miss You descends into a wall of percussion allowing the drums and synths to take over, guiding the song to an edgier, dancier direction as swathes of bright lights filling up the Academy. You suddenly get the feeling this is more than a gig. This is a rave. I Would Do Anything For You boasts a massive chorus as smoke balloons drop
on fans who reveal their playful side as they excitedly cheer. After the frenzy, Foster leads onto Broken Jaw, a track that for some reason didn’t make it onto Torches. This nicely sees Foster breaking away from his trademark nasal vocals, and bringing the song to a close with a powerful soaring finale, while Waste allows Foster to show off the extent of his impressive vocal range, with the melody rarely breaking out of a perfect falsetto. Without a doubt, the highlight comes when Foster decides to share the stage. After reminding the crowd that it’s the last night of the tour, Foster teases ‘we’re going to do something different tonight.’ before Luke Pritchard (lead singer of the Kooks) ambles on stage, to cover deliver a thunderous cover of Alabama Shakes’ buzzing new single Hold On, with Pritchard supplying guitar and effortless backing vocals. Predictably enough, it’s the final song of the evening that sends Brixton Academy into utter euphoria. Embellished with an extented nightclub remix it is Pumped Up Kicks that truly takes the roof off. With Foster ending up in the crowd as the band play it out there isn’t a single soul in the building that wouldn’t agree: this was a truly monumental last hurrah on these shores for an absolutely corking debut album. Catherine Hawkes
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