ALBUM REVIEWS
Ed Harcourt – El Magnifico
This is a classic Ed Harcourt album, in the vein of 2010’s Lustre as well as his early work. Although it still defies pigeonholing. The Londoner is known primarily for his huskyvoiced, richly-instrumented melodic fare and that itch is frequently scratched – Ghost Ship, Strange Beauty and Into The Arms Of Your Enemy fall into that bracket, while At The Dead Of The World, a gorgeous duet with Stevie Parker, elevates that approach to rare heights. Dive into any of his albums, though, and there is far more to his music and here we are faced by the driving Deathless, echoing the blistering Furnaces album, and the flourishes of trumpet first teased on Anvils & Hammers and then to the fore after a switch to Spanish lyrics on the closing, appropriately Latin-sounding title track, Broken Keys.
Logic1000 – Mother Review by Rachel Vickers-Price
Logic1000 – Australian-born DJ Samantha Poulter – is carving out a space for herself within the electronic scene with her debut album Mother, a nod to her becoming a parent during lockdown. The album features a host of tracks you can imagine yourself singing along to in the car. Promises’ repetitive piano riff turns the track from dance music into house with a disco edge, and the addition of Rochelle Jordan’s smooth-as-honey vocals hooks you in. It is the same with Self To Blame – electronica featuring a bouncy beat and smoothas-hell vocals, courtesy of Kayla Blackmon. The other half of the album is chock-a-block full of basement club bangers. Side By Side and Heartbeat both have the magic of a cracking dance track – the ability to bewitch clubgoers into deep-house hypnosis.
Ride – Interplay Review by Matthew George
Shoegaze pioneers Ride are back at a time of renewed interest in the genre. But the Oxford quartet always disassociated themselves from the term, with their traditional song structures and plentiful hooks, and Interplay is a varied seventh album. That stereotype of mumbling indistinct lyrics underneath layers of reverb-laden guitars while staring down at the numerous effects pedals (hence the shoegaze tag) does not apply here. Last Frontier is reminiscent of New Order with its prominent bass, and Last Night I Went Somewhere To Dream is as steeped in 1960s psychedelia as the title suggests. Midnight Rider’s lyrics include “opening up the doors of perception in my mind” – the Aldous Huxley reference that The Doors took their name from.
Sum 41 - Heaven :x: Hell Review by Max McLean
Sum 41’s Heaven x Hell is full of songs that would not feel out of place on any of the band’s previous albums – plenty of familiar guitar riffs, drums and self-reflective, melancholic lyrics. The album also has elements of Green Day’s International Superhits, with a plethora of guitar-laden tunes ranging from just 68 seconds to 212. While some, like Future Primitive, feel like tributes to the band’s earlier work, there is the occasional feeling of the new for fans looking for something different, including atmospheric anthem House of Liars and a cover of Paint It Black which just feels right in Sum 41’s style. The headbanging solos of the group’s heyday also make a return for anyone pining for an air guitar session, It’s All Me and I Don’t Need Anyone featuring two of the best.