New Album of the Week; No.6Clear Shot- Toy (release date: October 28, 2016)
I'm pleased to say listening to the album hasn't given up all its charms already, and I can keep on digging. This isn't a record where hearing the first few tracks tells you all you need to know and it even presumes to end on an unreserved magnum opus called "
Cinema"; a song that reminded me of a time before double glazing and plastic frames, when a loud enough set of speakers could set the wood, the glass and the putty resonating in sympathy; a movie set in black and white Berlin. I'm not versed in My Bloody Valentine, but this form of jangly guitar music bolted to the side of a goth castle, comes from a time after The Smiths. This is a set of ten very particular moments of pop and rock. I'd call the vocals "matter of fact"; sung from an old worn armchair; he puts down a mug of tea or a bottle of whisky on the chair's arm to insert his lyrics under the folds of a small moon of sound. Bands like Ride used to do this synthesis very well; lesser known ones like The Pastels as well. I'm not too sure if they are looking at the charts, but their proficiency means they can knock out a skew-wiffy pop song like "I'm Still Believing" for the kids; if the kids still exist. Or they can exercise the sort of tension that gets a crowd bouncing at the exact tempo of the universe.
I may like this band more than I like this album. I'm happy it'll take another week of immersion to find out.
Top tracks;
Fast Silver/
I'm Still Believing{This is a different sort of writing- full of vacuous imagery and sentences that could easily end in "MANNNNNNNN!!". Books from the head, movies from the heart and songs from the gut...if one can type with one's gut that is}