2
College Tribune | 1st April 2009
MUSIC
The Decemberists Remember those sometimes-beguiling, often-weird, always-ambitious rock operas from the 60’s and 70’s? The Who’s Tommy, Lou Reed’s Berlin, David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust… In all probability, Pink Floyd’s The Wall represents the perfect execution of the form. If you recognise those epics, then you will find a lot familiar with this release. If not, you might find the strived-for sophistication a tad pretentious. Either way, this record definitely deserves at least one listen and, considering how intricate the whole arrangement is, probably needs a good few. The Hazards Of Love tells the tale of Margaret, a woman from a city close to a for-
est, and her lover William, a shape-shifting forest-dweller. Honestly, bear with it. Margaret discovers that she’s up the duff and treks into the forest to find William. Over the course of the ensuing story their love is threatened by a jealous forest queen – there’s always one – and a murdering knave. The story is admittedly fairly basic, being of standard folklore fare, but that doesn’t hinder the musical output too much, with few silly moments ruining what is by-and-large a pretty enjoyable journey. The musical content itself is so seemingly unique that it is surprising when you find that it has moments of such familiarity, no doubt a result of Meloy et al pulling
together all the diverse influences that inform the overall sound and combining them with considerable skill. Riffs reminiscent of Led Zeppelin and structures gleaned from Iron Maiden and Jethro Tull abound. Bizarrely, in Hazards Of Love 2, there are climactic vocals that recall Damien Dempsey’s Ghosts Of Overdoses. Considering the fact that this is seventeen tracks long, the narrative zips along pretty well, and in any case the music is so good that it is unnecessary to pay attention to the story in order to enjoy the album. The record is knit together extremely well but this doesn’t prevent the individual songs being absolute crackers in their own
right; The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid, Isn’t It A Lovely Night?, The Abduction Of Margaret and the aforementioned Hazards Of Love 2 are the highlights, but there are plenty more to savour. Musically, this is an effort replete with complex arrangements and impressive instrumentation. There’s allsorts utilised here; orchestral strings, a children’s choir, five – count ‘em – guest vocalists, mandolins, and even an accordion. Producer Tucker Martine channels the various contributions together so well that the result is a lush, affecting sound, easy to engage with and certainly easy to admire. The Hazards Of Love
doesn’t quite hit the heights it’s aiming for; it’s not an absolute classic by any means. There is a tendency, as with almost all rock operas, to force the story arc forward, and this is often at the expense of natural, entertaining song-writing. Meloy sometimes seems to be holding something back and, on the rare occasion when this is the case, the output suffers as a consequence. Nonetheless, this is a truly fine effort from a group who have comprehensively shown that they are not afraid to take risks, and it marks them out as being one of the most intriguing and intelligent bands around.
Sebastian Clare
SWAN LAKES
PETER DOHERTY
DAN DEACON
ENEMY MINE
GRACE/WASTELANDS
BROMST
Swan Lakes is a collaboration between three of Canada’s brightest songwriting talents. This is the followup to 2007’s Beast Moans, which displayed an unbelievable amount of talent but also an underdevelopment of their ideas; there was far too much going on to cram into one album. Their sophomore effort sees them return with a more stripped-down and straightforward record. Each of the nine songs is beautifully crafted yet charmingly lo-fi. The lyrics remain as ambiguous and playful as expected from these writers. The shifts of tone and style are less grating as the songs themselves are structured in more collaborative ways; there’s less ‘This song is all about Dan, and this one is Spencer.’ Swan Lakes have turned themselves into a band rather than a mix-tape for brilliant solo work. The music floats from dense, over-driven guitar work to light, breezy rhythm sections and keyboard lines. This perfectly evokes sentimentality out of the songs created from the most artificial of sources; the super-group. The
fractured delivery associated with each writer here is perfectly situated. The fragility of Carey Mercer’s voice can descend into gibberish and somehow emerge triumphantly swinging. Dan Bejar sounds positively brash in comparison to the jittery nature of the other voices and lends a stability to the album that is really needed. This sort of collaboration just works perfectly for Wolf Parade’s Spencer Krug. This is a group that should never have worked with their diverse styles, penchants for over-experimentalism etc, and yet they have somehow crafted a beautiful indie record that works on so many levels. JOHN FLYNN
!"!"!"!"!
Go right ahead and exhale if you were waiting with bated breath for Peter Doherty to get his shit together. Several things have gone terribly right on Grace/Wastelands. Almost entirely absent is the outrageous self-indulgence that hampered particularly the last two Babyshambles offerings, and the traces left endear rather than exasperate. Stephen Street’s production injects coherency without bringing constraint, to a wonderfully arranged end. At Street’s suggestion, Graham Coxon’s expert hand is also well lent; indeed Coxon might just be the backbone of an album which sees various contributions, but none so solid as his. Doherty’s Babyshambles crew chip in with drums and bass on several of the songs, and Dot Allison’s smouldering vocals ensure that Sheepskin Tearaway gets the kind of lush delivery it deserves. Unsurprisingly, Peter ‘Wolfman’ Wolfe pokes his oar in, albeit on what might be one of the tenderest collaborations on the album: Broken Love Song is reminiscent
at certain moments of their beautiful 2004 ‘collaboration’ For Lovers and at other times seems fit to burst in another, more fast-paced direction. Last Of The English Roses was an obvious choice for the first single, confidently experimental while retaining the best of old cheek and a dash of mumble, the dub reggae tease is a perfect taste for what Grace/Wastelands offers as a whole. A melodic romp scanning the state of England, nodding at the past, and telling us, with a strange kind of authority, what love ain’t, Grace/ Wastelands charmed the bee’s knees right off yours truly. VANESSA BUNN
!"!"!"!"!
Dan Deacon is known for his intense live shows and kaleidoscopic music. His breakthrough album, Spiderman Of The Rings, blended highpitched voices, woody woodpecker samples, heavy drum patterns and tribal-sounding, shouting in ways that were sometimes beautiful, sometimes tacky, but always fun. Its successor, Bromst, shows a much more grown up, delicate approach. The album opens with a gradual build of piano, drums, and Deacon’s voice itself before exploding in a big singalong chant over heavy drums and syncopated synth lines. This is characteristic of the overall album, with Deacon trying to avoid the overly playful quality of his last record in order to establish himself as a serious electronic composer; but one who still shows his sense of humour, fun and the communal atmosphere in which he works. Some songs are still sketchand show that he has room to improve.
Wet Wings amounts to nothing more than an exercise in Reichian syncopation. The jarring, kaleidoscopic nature of the music means that it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but it was never meant to be. The main fault with this album is that it’s too intense; Deacon does not compromise. He makes amazingly imaginative music and ‘getting him’ requires immersion or seeing him live, but then everybody really should. SEBASTIAN CLARE
!"!"!"!"!