LIVE - TALL SHIPS @ THE RAINBOW 14/10/12

To combat the rapidly falling temperatures that are upon us, I headed for the warmth of the Rainbow in Birmingham to see Tall Ships tour their debut album Everything Touching. The first act, Wax Futures, were the musical equivalent of an electric heater, harnessing the pure energy of punk rock and transmitting it in waves over the audience. This Telford trio were a tad unpolished but their set was full of promise, choosing the "fast and furious" mode of delivery which did not go unrewarded by those who watched them. 

Constant Waves, the second act on, took a rather different approach, going for atmosphere instead of in-your-face immediacy. The end result was extremely impressive, with excellent musicianship in all areas combining to make a sound not dissimilar to Mogwai-esque post-rock. The band have an EP coming out in the coming months and it will be interesting to track their progress.

The main support, Dad Rocks!, made for a surprising yet pleasant foil to the loudness that had come before. Albertsson and friends filled the room with a folk-pop hybrid sound, with such poignant tracks as the one about "when I found out that my girlfriend was having sex with Edward Cullen in her head". There is humour in abundance here but it is not just humour for humour's sake; it's the kind that makes you examine yourself and the world you live in. 

Finally it was time for the arrival of Tall Ships, who have been attracting a fair amount of attention in the build-up to the release of their debut record last week. The complexity of the material that they create has the potential to provide a stumbling block in terms of recreating the sound in a live setting, but the trio seem to have overcome this with ease, and as a result they really do pack a punch live. Intricate looping guitars scythed through the air during 'Plate Tectonics' and a lusty crowd sing-along made for a fitting ending to long-time fan favourite 'Vessels'. The new tracks went down just as well; 'Gallop' and 'Oscar' were particular highlights. The band finished their set with the gargantuan 'Murmurations', a nine-minute masterpiece with the most teasing, tantalising build-up transforming into a triumphant crescendo. There was no other way to end the show; Tall Ships started big, and finished even bigger. One cannot help but feel that their fledgling career is on the same trajectory. 

NEW MUSIC: JESSIE WARE - NIGHT LIGHT (WILD BEASTS REMIX)

Night Light- Wild Beasts Remix

OK so this remix has actually been kicking about for about a week now, but I've spent that time listening to it non-stop and purring because of how good it is, and when you hear it you will see why. Wild Beasts are fast becoming the Midas of the remix world; whether it be tackling a Lady Gaga track or paying homage to acts like Jessie Ware, everything they touch shines gold. 

ALBUM: LONE WOLF - THE LOVERS

Paul Marshall is very busy at the moment. He is preparing and sending out the many and various items that pledgers all over the world (including yours truly) have purchased in order to fund the release and subsequent touring of new Lone Wolf record The Lovers, a record that he has been slaving over for the past year or so. The pledge campaign was a clear success with the total set by Marshall being met with more than 2 months to spare, so it will be interesting to see if The Lovers is equal to this success.

The initial signs are very encouraging. A spooky intro gives way to ‘Spies In My Heart’, a song that makes a bold statement about the album as a whole. Gone is the folk sound that pervades previous album The Devil and I: here instead our ears find DIY percussion (most of which were sounds recorded by Marshall on his iPhone), a plethora of electronic peaks and troughs, a sound that can be so big and expansive one minute and then shrinking into itself the next. The guitar has not been completely abandoned; it acts as a soothing counterbalance to the thudding drums of ‘The Swan of Meander’ and pops up on the title track, although here it is overshadowed by a beautiful vocal performance, both lyrically and in delivery.

The more you delve into this offering, the more there is to find and delight in. ‘Ghosts of Holloway’ is haunted by the ghost of a long-ago Depeche Mode sound which adds to the track’s irresistible allure, while ‘Butterfly’ can fool you into thinking that you’re catching some rays during the height of summer, before you open your eyes and realise that it’s October and bloody freezing outside. At every turn, this record provides similar moments; carefully constructed walls of noise that can overwhelm and transport the lucky listener.

It is hard to see how any pledger could be disappointed with The Lovers, such is the care and attention put into it. The album is a fantastic advert for the Pledge campaign route, showing that the artist can take control of their medium and connect directly with fans, and Marshall has taken full advantage of this. The non-pledger release of The Lovers is on 12^th November, and quite frankly you’d be a fool to deny yourself this 34-minute slice of joy. 

8/10

Preorder The Lovers here

ALBUM: TALL SHIPS - EVERYTHING TOUCHING

If for some reason you haven’t heard of Tall Ships yet, then shame on you. Ric, Matt and Jamie have been kicking about for a while now, supporting great acts such as We Are Scientists, and they have been concocting their debut LP throughout 2011. After whetting our appetite with lead singles ‘T=0’ and ‘Gallop’, we can now find out if the band have built on the promise of their first two EPs.

And in fact this hope is fulfilled, in quite a literal way, by ‘Ode To Ancestors’ and ‘Books’, tracks that have already appeared on the There Is Nothing But Chemistry Here EP and Tall Ships EP respectively. What were once rough diamonds have now been polished to the max, and they are all the better for it. ‘Ode To Ancestors’ starts off softer than its predecessor and by the end of track is much, much bigger, with pounding drums adding to the cumulative vocal harmonies and dancing melodies. On ‘Books’ the band enlisted the help of any fan that could make it to a primary school near their Brighton base to create a mammoth of a vocal track, with quite possibly the biggest chorus in the world ever.

The DIY choir also feature on closing track ‘Murmurations’ which is a real masterclass of songcraft. The song starts with a pitter-patter of electronic beats which turns into a thudding metronome which is joined by a single guitar which is then joined by … you get the idea. This painstaking layering eventually erupts into a vibrant chorus urging the listener to “stay with me, for just a while, hold me close, confirm my denial”.

And there is vibrancy and warmth all over this album, even down the samples of young children frolicking and singing in between tracks. ‘Best Ever’ is a playful instrumental and makes for a particularly satisfying intro into ‘Phosphorescence’ (yes, that is the correct spelling … I think). ‘Idolatry’ provides a break from the euphoria, with its tender vocals and mournful strains of guitar. It is to the credit of this record that it can incorporate such diverse moods without any sign of discordance whatsoever.

Some have likened Tall Ships to a young Biffy Clyro, and there are snatches of glimpses where this may appear to be true, especially in the raw guitar work. However, Tall Ships are not a band that need the piggyback such comparisons give. Everything Touching is as bold a statement as the band could ever possibly make; rarely does one come across such a confident debut. The band start their UK tour on Wednesday, and if indeed there are people who haven’t got the Tall Ships memo yet, this will be rectified soon enough.

8/10

Buy Everything Touching here

ALBUM: MUSE - THE 2ND LAW

A new Muse album is an event in every sense, whether you like them or not. Each new offering is heralded by an audacious and daring teaser; for Black Holes and Revelations it was the super-groovy ‘Supermassive Black Hole’, for The Resistance the outlandish and outrageous ‘United States of Eurasia’. The 2^nd Law is no exception here; the album trailer released in June, containing part of ‘The 2^nd Law: Unsustainable’, had fans and critics alike utterly bemused as to how and why Muse had ‘turned dubstep’. Today, they will find out if this is the case.

It turns out that dubstep is not where Muse are headed, despite their experiment to make “Skrillex but with real instruments”. ‘Follow Me’ is the only other track that is even remotely in this vein, as Nero electrofies a tender ode to fatherhood driven by the beat of Matt Bellamy’s son in utero. These explorations are relatively successful once the shock has worn off.

And there are a lot of shocks on this album. Where to start? There’s ‘Panic Station’ where Muse succeed in out-Princeing Prince, ‘Save Me’ where bassist Chris Wolstenholme steps up to the mic and delivers a stunningly gentle performance amid some nice guitar work by Bellamy, and ‘Animals’ where, god forbid, Muse actually do sound a tiny little bit like Radiohead! But don’t let the 5/4 time signature fool you: this track is Absolution-era Muse taken to a whole new level.

In fact the only songs that don’t surprise are ‘Survival’ and ‘Supremacy’, the band mashing together every element that makes up the essence of the Muse sound. ‘Survival’ is packed with ridiculous (in a bad way) lyrics and even more ridiculous (in a good way) vocal gymnastics from Bellamy, and the riffs-and-strings combination in ‘Supremacy’ makes you wonder why this isn’t the new Bond theme instead of Adele (‘Supremacy’ even finishes with a classic spy-thriller chord, for god’s sake).

With such apparent discordance, it’s easy to forget that there is a theme here; a scientific spin on current economic events is put forward and littered throughout the record, climaxing at the 2-part album closers. Even these two tracks are rather odd put next to each other, but can easily stand alone as solid offerings. ‘Isolated System’ is perhaps more effective than its companion, as layer upon layer of haunting keys is painted onto an aural canvas, joined by recordings of news reporters documenting our current doom. The infant heartbeat used earlier in the album reappears and then makes way to an almost trance-like beat, and just as real drums phase out the electronics – it ends. The song shuts down slowly and completely, like a machine that has run its course and run out of energy because of entropy. Or something like that.

Luckily, your science knowledge doesn’t have to be top-notch to enjoy The 2^nd Law. And it really is to be enjoyed; there is a playfulness here that was sadly lacking on The Resistance. Of course, this means that the band are more Marmite than they have ever been, but for people on the ‘love’ side of the divide this record is a joy to listen to. 

9/10

Buy The 2nd Law here