40 Meursault - Something For The Weakened
A shifted lineup brought a shifted sound on Meursault's third album, largely jettisoning the electronic undertow in favour of strings, a fully fleshed out band and the sort of post-Frightened Rabbit smoother crescendoing slow burn bombast. None of this has made Neil Pennycook any surface happier or any less likely to unleash his tectonic plate shifting bellow. There's always been an internal struggle between the spare folkishness and the epic, the real change this time is Pennycook's emotions being as laid bare as the voice to the greater extent, tenderised to the point of venting at the mistrustful world. It suits him.
[Amazon] [iTunes] [Spotify]
39 Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan
For the newbie David Longstreth and co's latest sonic exploratory fleet must have come across as a lot more approachable than the weird Afro-garde of yore, the melodies more linear and less likely to head off at wild tangents, the harmonies less exotic, the arrangement less packed. These songs still aren't strictly straightforward but they still feel like they're attempting to stretch beyond themselves, stretching out the imaginative interplay and the little effects round the edge like elastic. Nothing is done for no reason, just the reason is now usually because it pushes the song on to the limits of self-imposed boundaries.
[Amazon] [iTunes] [Spotify]
38 Jens Lekman - I Know What Love Isn't
Having shipped out to Australia only to have his heart broken, Lekman came back to strip himself of the faux-radio-friendly misfit placed upon him and deal in something more emotionally raw and direct while still making a smooth job of the production, now largely piano-led and shorn of samples. It's an album not of guilt or revenge but of remembering the little details even as he tries to wash the imprint off himself. Maybe we miss the light ranconteur Lekman, but his willingness to express former love without making the listener feel dirty, and ultimately keep a sense of perspective, keeps his uber-particular songwriting touch alive.
[Amazon] [iTunes] [Spotify]
37 Ghosting Season - The Very Last Of The Saints
The Manchester duo, once worriedaboutsatan, start their sort-of-debut with a track called Ghost Drift, which is nearly there by itself. This is ambient texturalisation built on metronomic, insistent pulses, disquieting samples and much the same late night rainy bus window vista dubstep was originally known for. Not that this is a bassy medium, instead sketching out horizons extending out far beyond them, music that might have once been found coming out of club speakers but somehow got detached and solidified their unsteady, jittery electronic waves into curious shapes. As these great textural eddies continue to coast in, the devil is in the detail.
[Amazon] [iTunes] [Spotify]
36 Golden Fable - Star Map
The North Wales duo's debut did a better job than most who've ever tried it of bridging the gap between skittering, glitchy electronics and delicate folk melodies. It helps that Rebecca Palin has the sort of crystalline voice that helps the songs head towards the airy stratosphere, a la Liz Fraser, complemented by the sort of gorgeously realised glacial textures it deserves. Not that it's all post-rock textural - a few tracks betray the influence of New Order and Broadcast, but at the same time most could easily be stripped back into acoustic laments. A dreamlike mastery of an often elusive form.
[Amazon] [iTunes] [Spotify]
No comments:
Post a Comment