ALBUM REVIEWS
Elbow – Audio Vertigo
Elbow’s tenth album is their first to include drummer Alex Reeves in the writing process since he replaced Richard Jupp, and his influence is apparent in the busy rhythmic patterns of Lovers Leap, the dynamism of Balu and the funky lope of Very Heaven – the last of which is one of a number of songs here in which singer Guy Garvey is in a reflective mood, here musing on his youth. In Things I’ve Been Telling Myself for Years, he’s more self-effacing as he holds up a mirror to his younger self. The band’s often-stated fondness for Genesis is manifest in Her To The Earth, with Garvey noting that “we live in a troubling age”; Knife Fight centres on a couple who “communciate disastrously”; the raucous Good Blood Mexico City was inspired by a gig supporting Foo Fighters. All in all, a brilliantly varied collection.
The Jesus and Mary Chain – Glasgow Eyes Review by Duncan Seaman
Forty years on from grabbing headlines with their fraternal fisticuffs, earsplitting feedback and gigs that were so incendiary they ended in riots, Jim and William Reid might be a mellower prospect these days but their basic musical template remains largely the same. The likes of Venal Joy and American Born thumb their nose at convention with the attitude of Suicide and the noise attack of The Velvet Underground; the bump and grind of The Eagles and The Beatles has echoes of Joan Jett’s I Love Rock ’n’ Roll and references to “rolling with the Stones”; Hey Lou Reid is a homage to the godfather of alternative rock. The darkness descends in the druggy tale Chemical Animal, but there’s a sweeter tone to the elegiac Second of June. Their best work in decades.
The K’s – I Wonder If The World Knows Review by Tom Newton
As a fan of angular indie guitar music with an anthemic slant, The K’s debut album is a joy from the offset. Imagine, if you will, Placebo and Coldplay coupled with youthful euphoric tales with man-on the-street lyricism, tonguein-cheek Merseyside sarcasm and a huge uplifting dose of optimism the likes of which Arctic Monkeys used to peddle. It’s nothing original in its execution, however as a debut The K’s have set their stall out amongst the DMA’s, The Lathums and hints of early 2000s emo with passion and competency at this early stage. The production and composition for an indie guitar debut is cinematic in its scope. This isn’t a rushed out, lo-fi product; it’s a superb first effort.
Peter Astor – Tall Stories & New Religions Review by Duncan Seaman
The one-time leader of jangly 80s indie bands The Loft and The Weather Prophets, Peter Astor has spent the last 20 years lecturing in music at the University of Westminster in between making sporadic solo albums. Here he revisits songs from his back catalogue with a band that includes Paul Weller’s former bassist Andy Lewis and keyboard player Sean Read, currently of Dexys. Among them is a twinkly take on The Loft’s Model Village, a staple of his live sets which ruminates on an idealised world where “no-one dies, no-one cries and no-one feels the pain”. The Weather Prophets’ almost-hit She Comes From The Rain is remade as a gentle shuffle with a twangy guitar line. Tall Stories & New Religions is an album in which to get lost.