Julia Stone – Cuckolded

Julia Stone – By The Horns

EHL – 2 months

Angus and Julia Stone had a nice brother-and-sister thing going on. One song by him, one song by her. Angus channelled 1970s-era Neil Young. Try ‘Yellow Brick Road’ from Down The Way. Julia was the Nicolette Larson figure. A distinctive voice, but in the shadow. Generally, Angus had the more memorable tunes. Julia punctuated them nicely. But you kept going back to his songs. Now, both are solo acts. On paper, Julia has the tougher job. She does have a great voice. Slightly breathy. Baby doll. But with the potential to be samey over the course of an album. To work, a Julia Stone solo album has to have more variation than her work with Angus. She has to resist the temptation ‘to do a Lisa Hannigan’. To swaddle the lovely vocals in pleasantly strummed guitar and polite percussion. Any given song is enjoyable, but more than a couple at a sitting just palls. There are a couple of tracks like that here. However, there’s also a range that’s been absent before. Nothing too dynamic, but something different to listen to across the album as a whole. And the lyrics say something too. Sure, on one track she really, really wants to live with someone in California. We know because she tells us so often. But the title track gives us more. Here, she sings with real feeling and pretty soon it’s obvious why. ‘You spread your darkness like a disease, Then you offered your body as the only remedy’. Things only get worse. ‘You had me by the horns, You had her in the same bed while it was still warm, My hair was still on the pillow, My clothes were still on the floor’. This is a really nice album. Worth going back to. And, guess what? There’s an Angus Stone album out in a couple of weeks. Watch this space.

Julia Stone official website

 

Paul Buchanan – Quiet Man

Paul Buchanan – Mid Air

EHL – 3 months

This is an album of fleeting glimpses. In songs that last scarcely two-and-a-half minutes, and arrangements that offer hardly any orchestration, Paul Buchanan provides quiet observations on the world around him. For the most part there’s just Buchanan’s voice and a piano. The piano provides the melody and Buchanan sings just before or just after it. There are no backing vocals. No chorus. Musically, it’s so still that on the final track you can hear birds singing in the background. In such an intimate context, two elements have got to combine. First, the music must be memorable. It is. The pace is slow, very slow, but there’s a lovely cadence. The melody from ‘Mid Air’ is made to stick in your mind. ‘The Cars Are In The Garden’ will live with you. With The Blue Nile, there have been times when Buchanan has succumbed to the baritone/falsetto temptation. Not here. Almost everything is soft, deep. You can feel him in the room with you. Second, the lyrics must communicate something. They do. At times, they’re confessional. “Later when you told me about this, I was confused I was upset, And all I needed was a kiss”. At times, they’re beautiful. “The buttons on your collar, The colour of your hair, I think I see you everywhere, I want to live forever, And watch you dancing in the air”. There are no stories, but there are images. “The astronaut in God’s blue sky, Dreaming of a summer day, And waving his last goodbye”. Like his contemporaries, Mark Hollis and Kate Bush, we don’t get to know Paul Buchanan on this album, but we do get to be with him for a short time. And that’s pleasure enough.

Paul Buchanan official website

Beach House – Blooooooom

Beach House – Bloom

EHL – 2.5 weeks

There is now a unique Beach House sound. It’s not the shimmery synths or the arpeggio guitar. They’re standard dream pop. What sets Beach House apart is the voice of Victoria Legrand. Deep. Compelling. There’s a fullness to the vocals that’s absent from similar bands. Sure, sometimes the lyrics get lost, but it doesn’t matter. Her voice is integral to the overall sound. Another instrument. The phrasing is slow. Unrushed. The vowels go on and on. They lift up ever so slowly and then fall more slowly still. The effect is a wonderful sense of space and more than a hint of melancholy. On Bloom, the Beach House sound has been perfected. Like on the previous album, Teen Dream, none of the songs on Bloom outstay their welcome. They’re given time to develop, but there’s no room for self-indulgence. However, perhaps because the Beach House sound has been perfected, Bloom is also a little less immediate than its predecessor. There are fewer stand-out songs. Fewer commercial-ready tunes. Beach House are a serious outfit and increasingly so. That’s not to say that the songs on Bloom are difficult to listen to. They’re intricate for sure, but they’re no exercise in contrapuntal polyphony. There’s just slightly less joy than before. And that’s because, more and more, the songs are built around the voice of Victoria Legrand. That’s no bad thing. Maybe because of her upbringing, she sings the songs from a slightly other place. And that makes them, and Beach House, both interesting and different.

Beach House official site

 

Richard Hawley – Look Before You Leap

Richard Hawley - Standing At the Sky’s Edge

EHL – 10 days

Around the time he released ‘Coles Corner’, Richard Hawley made a bunch of acoustic versions of older songs free to download from his website. Beautiful versions of ‘I’m On Nights’, ‘The Nights Are Cold, ‘It’s Over Love’. Seven years on, times have changed. The follow up to ‘Coles Corner’, was a disappointing affair. The sound hadn’t moved on and the songs were weaker. He followed it up with ‘Truelove’s Gutter’. More ambitious. Grander. Fuller. Longer. Forever changing, his new release pushes his own boundaries much, much further still. The photos on the, ahem, digital booklet give it away. Close-up pictures of guitars, phaser pedals, and distortion knobs turned up to 9.5. This is the psychedelic Richard Hawley. The wig-out Richard Hawley. Does it work? Well, pretty much. That distinctive Richard Hawley voice finally emerges on track 5. Up to that time, it’s drowned in a sea of reverb and just plain sound. Were the first 4 tracks worth it? Well, not if you’re an Arbouretum fan. They’ve been doing contemporary wig-outs for years. Yes, it’s a new sound for Richard Hawley. But it’s not a new sound. And the lyrics? The bitter-sweet, everyman-yet-transcendant Richard Hawley lyrics. Who knows? They’re not printed on the digital booklet. When it works, it works really well. Songs like ‘Don’t Stare At The Sun’ start off slowly, build up and then take-off. It’s an old trope. It sounds good. ‘The Wood Colliers Grave’ is the best song on the album. It’s also the shortest. Coincidence? It’s a simple song, but the psychedelic Richard Hawley fills it with a mystery that it wouldn’t have had as a straightforward ballad. And the voice is there. And the lyrics are decipherable. Restless, Richard Hawley is probably his own harshest critic. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why he always wants to move on. And that’s good. The next album will probably be quieter. Calmer. The free downloads disappeared from Richard Hawley’s website pretty soon after he became an international treasure. It’s a shame. It’s good to move on, but it’s good to have a reminder of the past too.

Richard Hawley official website

Daughn Gibson – All hll

Daughn Gibson – All Hell

EHL - 10 days

In the same way that James Blake brought R&B into the post-techno age, Daughn Gibson is aiming to do the same with country music. So says his record label. Or, rather, labl. Even though there’s a sense with this album that one vowel is always unnecessarily absent, it’s an intriguing listen. The vocals are 50s-era baritone. Or Scott Walker, if you prefer. There’s a drum beat over samples of old country songs. It shouldn’t work. But it nearly does. It works a lot better than old country songs. There’s nothing maudlin about the sound. There are scratches from the original recordings. There’s often a piano, but always syncopated with the rhythm. Yes, there are lyrics about terminally ill children, but, honestly, it’s not a depressing listen. Singing over orchestrated samples of old country albums, there’s nothing remotely like it. And yet, Mr Gibson manages to make it insufferably cold. It’s not a depressing listen, but there’s no cheer either. Nothing welcoming. Nothing to like. To love. And not because of the old country samples. But because of the post-techno production. Take the title track with its lyrics about terminally ill children. In old country songs, you might start off indifferent to the story that unfolds, but in the end you’d care at least a little. You’d feel something. Here, you feel the same at the end of this song as you did at the beginning. There is something genuinely captivating about this album. Something stylistically unique. But nothing emotionally rewarding. And in the end good music has to illicit some sort of emotional response.

Daughn Gibson – official website

Jack White – What caliber

Jack White – Blunderbuss

EHL - 3 weeks

This is unmistakably a Jack White album. The thin voice. The cold production. This is unmistakably a Jack White album. The angry riffs. The aggrieved, cutting, remorseless riffs. This time, there’s plenty of reason to be angry. The lyrics capture the break up with Karen Elson or perhaps Meg White. Allegedly. “I hear a whistle, that’s how I know she’s home. Lipstick, eyelash, broke mirror, broken home”. Ouch. “She don’t care what kind of wounds she’s inflicted on me. She don’t care what color bruises that she’s leavin’ on me. She’s got freedom in the 21st century”. Oucher still. Well, the Karen Elson album that you produced was full of murder ballads. Allegedly. So, Mr White, what did you expect? ‘Sixteen Saltines’ is the classic Jack White song. All bluster. But while there’s plenty of drums and guitars, there’s more to the music than just that. ‘Love Interruption’ reads brutally, but sounds composed. Keyboards. Acoustic guitar. Backing vocals. ‘Blunderbuss’ suggests it should be the noisiest, fearsomest track on the album. But with its backing of pedal steel guitar and double bass, it just lies on its back and waves its legs in the air. And that’s what works. Thirteen angry guitar-driven songs might have been very cathartic for Mr White, but it would soon have outstayed its welcome. Like someone you let sleep on your couch because they’re having a tough time, but who you soon want to kick out because they sure do moan a lot. You wouldn’t wish on anyone the obvious pain and torment that provides the background to these songs. But they sure make for a great album. Allegedly.

Jack White – official site

Simone Felice – Happy Music

Simone Felice

EHL - 2 weeks

As part of The Felice Brothers, Simone inhabits the shadier part of town. Not quite the wrong side of the tracks, but close by. Guns are either present or not very far away. Simone and his brothers, Ian and James, get into situations their mother probably warned them against. There’s usually drama in the songs. It makes for interesting listening. Recording as The Duke and The King, Simone Felice is in a much more benign place. Topanga Canyon circa 1975. At home with bands such as Dawes, Maplewood, and the arch-revivalist, the magnificent Jonathan Wilson, the mood is laid back. Hazy. With a slightly acrid smell in the air. His mother probably warned him against plenty of things that are going on there as well, but, on balance, she’d probably be happier he’s there and not in the other place. Now, Simone Felice has released his first self-titled project. The sounds don’t stray too far from the canyons, but the cast of characters suggests that he’s been hooking up again with his brothers. On ‘New York Times’ he sings about a 35-year old from New Jersey who “with a thirty-thirty, found them girls rehearsing in a ballet school, And when he bust in and point his musket he turned the lilly white muslin into bright red bloom”. Other characters include Bobby Ray, a rapist; Dawn Brady and her son who, guess what, has a gun and you know he’s gonna use it; Hetti Blackbird, an Indian from South Dakota who steals a gold Range Rover; Sharon Tate and Charlie Manson, and we know what happens there; and, most frighteningly of all, Courtney Love. Simone imagines himself in a relationship with the lonely Ms Love. ‘Take a chance and come away with me’, he sings. ‘I’ll work construction’. Suffice to say, there’s no sign of a happy ending. Mr Felice, it’s your mother on the phone again.

Simone Felice – Official website

Daniel Rossen – Bear necessity

Daniel Rossen - Silent Hour / Golden Mile EP

EHL - 2 months

This is the first real outing from Daniel Rossen since Grizzly Bear’s 2009 Veckatimest album. There are plenty of continuities. Working on the Lennon/McCartney principle that whoever sings the song composed it, then ‘Return to Form’ on this EP recalls Rossen’s ‘I Live With You’ on Veckatimest. The slow build up of the guitar and then the shimmering keyboards that lifts the song to a whole new level. Similarly, ‘Silent Song’ here echoes ‘Fine For Now’ there. The quiet and the loud. The build up of tension and the release. There are contrasts, too. There’s nothing quite as elaborate or syncopated here as ‘Southern Point’. There’s nothing with the structure of ‘While You Wait For The Others’. There’s a sense that these new songs are just a little more raw. A little less produced. Less Grizzly Bear, more Department of Eagles, his other side-project. And that’s not a bad thing. Perhaps because of the circumstances in which Department of Eagles’ In Ear Park was written – the death of Rossen’s father – there was more emotion to the songs there than anything on Veckatimest. At least in the way in which they made the final cut. That emotion is here too. “Lord, I know it’s wrong”, he sings ‘On Silent Song’, “So help me out”. But the emotion is never at the expense of the melody. Rossen’s hooks stay in your head. And a sense of humour too? Calling your song ‘Return To Form’? It’s misleading, though. There was never a dip in form. And this EP just increases the anticipation of the next installment from Rossen under whatever name he chooses to record.

Daniel Rossen official website

The Shins – Port of Morrow

The Shins – Port of Morrow

EHL - 2 weeks

Writing songs is becoming more difficult for James Mercer. In the early days it was easy. The songs were short, crisp, catchy. Cerebral, but simple. Gradually, things have changed. It’s not just the amount of time between albums that suggests writing is becoming more difficult. It’s the songs themselves. Take ‘Simple Song’. Simple, right? No. It’s full of fills. Guitar fills. Drum fills. A deeper, talky section in the middle. Simple, it is not. And then, there’s ‘It’s Only Life’. A ballad by The Shins. A very ordinary ballad. A very clichéd ballad. Almost an X-Factor ballad. Terrible. That said, this is still an album by The Shins. Unmistakably by The Shins. ‘Bait And Switch’ could have come straight from Oh, Inverted World and in a good and new way. ‘September’ is a slow song, but it’s not a ballad. It’s calm, but it’s unmistakably a song by James Mercer and The Shins. There’s a moment on it when he sings ‘born of the sea’ and on the word ‘sea’ suddenly the song goes to a whole new place. A wonderful place. We’re pulled back soon enough, but at least we went there. Generally, there’s a feeling that James Mercer is having to try a little too hard these days. Maybe he needs a collaborator, like Danger Mouse, to bring out what’s best within. On Port of Morrow, he still has plenty of really good ideas, but there’s a nagging sense that he has to build a song around them. The early albums felt complex, but natural. Here, they feel complex, but constructed. Ah, but then there’s that moment on ‘September’.

The Shins official website

Andrew Bird – BIY

Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself

EHL - 2 weeks

With ‘Break It Yourself’ Andrew Bird shows that he’s as unique as ever. The talent for song titles, ‘Eyeoneye’, ‘Polynation’, ‘Near Death Experience Experience’. The penchant for elusive lyrics. “Exiled your close advisors. Ousted your dog, your rabbits. You’re through with pasifizers”. And then there’s the music. The looping. The whistling. This could only be an album by Andrew Bird. But this is a slightly different Andrew Bird album from its two predecessors. There’s more pizzicato. Fewer overdubs. The pace is slower. The sound more mournful. Cold even. On ‘Near Death Experience Experience’ he pictures a plane plummeting to earth with the seemingly inevitable result. But, thankfully, there’s nothing wrong. “And we’ll dance like cancer survivors”, he sings. “Like we’re grateful simply to be alive”. And yet, it doesn’t seem like a great party. If there’s dancing, it’ll be a tea dance, not a rave. Contrast that to ‘Fiery Crash’ from ‘Armchair Apocrypha’ where he pictured exactly the same scenario but made it sound like a great way to go. The downbeat nature of the album can be seen most clearly on the penultimate track, ‘Hole In the Ocean Floor’, all 8 minutes 18 seconds of it. It grows gradually to a crescendo, right? No. It meanders. It’s very Andrew Bird. An infinite variety of strings. But it doesn’t welcome you in. ‘Break It Yourself’ is yet another great Andrew Bird album, but unlike his other recent albums it’s a difficult one to love.

Andrew Bird official site