Review | Stereo Jealousy

Laura Marling’s second album has a fair amount to live up to. Her debut LP was Mercury nominated, critically lauded almost universally – rightly so. It was a quiet, sometimes fragile album with many moments of wispy beauty. At times on her debut her youth revealed itself; her wonderful voice at times hiding amongst the shadows.

The follow up is more strident, from the title onwards. Marling’s voice is front and centre throughout, stronger and clearer than before – and it is still an instrument that belies her age. This set of songs is more emotionally hard-hitting too, built around her recent breakup with him from Noah & The Whale. There’s so much experience evident on this album that at times it leaves the listener thinking if Marling is performing a songbook; these tracks could be Carole King’s, Joni Mitchell’s or any of the alt-folk luminaries you’d care to mention.

The highlights on I Speak Because I Can are many, from the almost fairground-esque swells of Alpha Shallows to the beautiful Goodbye England; the first – and destined to always be the best – track to recall our recent deep freeze. My favourite is the slow burn of the coruscating Hope In The Air, building from a simple guitar line to a full-blown, teeth-bared tirade. All the tracks are underpinned by a cleaner production than on her debut, which suits her fine guitar playing, the backing from Mumford & Sons, and both her delivery and subject matter.

All this leaves Marling with a potential millstone, with two albums this good so young what can it possibly leave for the future? Leaving that sobering thought aside though, I Speak Because I Can is a tremendous album – one that propels this young star way ahead of her contemporaries. Stunning.

Rating:

Laura Marling – Alpha Shallows (mp3)

Buy I Speak Because I Can

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1 April, 2010
Posted by Wagert at 9:39 am
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Tagged with: I Speak Because I Can, Laura Marling, Review

Tindersticks don’t play London gigs often, which was why the dedicated were out in force tonight. The notoriously chatty Shepherds Bush Empire (which Stuart Staples professes a dislike for) was almost totally without back whispers. It was quite a nice change.

The group arrive on stage with the self assurance of a band with nothing left to prove. They may have experienced a few line-up changes, but they play with supreme confidence. It’s almost as if the audience isn’t there – that’s not a bad thing, it creates a kind of intimacy; like you’ve snuck into a private performance, where everyone concerned is playing as if no one is watching.

The set list unsurprisingly is made up mostly of tracks from their new album Falling Down A Mountain. However, fans of all periods were appeased with at least one track from every long player, although not necessarily an obvious one. Although known for their dark brooding songs, it’s actually their more (relatively) uptempo numbers which get new life on stage. They start off with the new album opener and title track, and tackle it without restraint, making it a more chaotic, more raucous mixture. They even manage to get the crowd dancing for new number Harmony Around My Table and for the classic Can We Start Again, which turns into one of the real highlights of the evening.

In contrast the slower brooding ballads, for which the band are more widely known, become more restrictive. They must remain wrought and carefully restrained. Stuart Staples’ elegant howl remains tender and beautiful; his performance sometimes tugging hard on your heart strings. But several of these slow ballads together, begins to make the audience a little restless. They save the tracks from their most adored albums, 1 and 2, till the latter portion of the set, but patience is rewarded in the encore, with a couple from album 1, City Sickness and Raindrops, which both go down a treat.

But a few minor complaints aside, this was a triumphant performance. A good live show should leave you with a greater appreciation of a band’s music. Tonight Tindersticks gave their music volume, what might seem quiet, sparse, restrained on record, was lively and full bodied live, even danceable. It was a different experience; and for that it was worth every penny.

Rating:

Tindersticks – Keep You Beautiful (mp3)

Photo: Maurice @ Paard van Troje – The Hague, Netherlands, 03/10

Setlist:

Falling Down A Mountain
Keep You Beautiful
Sometimes It Hurts
Bathtime
The Other Side Of The World
Dying Slowly – Can Our Love
Hubbard’s Hill
Peanuts
Factory Girls
Marbles
Black Smoke
A Night In
Harmony Around My Table

No Man In The World
Can We Start Again?

City Sickness
Raindrops

Vex’d never got to finish this album, however, when you listen to this it sounds like nothing less than a finished, darkly shining, masterpiece. It’s not as heavy as their previous effort Degenerate – yet still it is undeniably a cinematic paean to the dank bowels of London. This is no retread of Untrue though, it’s altogether more shadowy, more apocalyptic – more dramatic. Barely a shaft of brightness pierces the gloom shrouding the waves of fathomless bass – as El-P soundalike Jest intones on the supreme Disposition “I seen the sun… once”.

It is not only the bass that elevates this album amongst its peers – there is some superbly matched vocal performances too. The highlight of the whole record is Anneka’s striking input into the shifting trip of Heart Space, a tune that smudges the very definitions of the genre. There’s variety here too, from the fantastic wavering remixes of Distance’s Fallen and Plaid’s Bar Kimura through to more mechanical shards of closer Nails. The fact that most of the material that makes up Cloud Seed was produced back in 2006-7 is testament to its inventiveness, it sounds still like little else their contemporaries could or have yet produced.

Rating:

Vex’d ft. Jest – Disposition

Buy Cloud Seed at Norman Records

30 March, 2010
Posted by Wagert at 9:51 am
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Tagged with: Cloud Seed, Vex'd

The review for this show was already formulating in my mind as I journeyed to Chalk Farm. Desert blues band from western Africa wonderfully out of place in a venue steeped in British industrial heritage, at an event sponsored by one of the western world’s biggest brands. Culture clash anyone? Things didn’t quite turn out that way as I was about to find out.

Oi Va Voi were up first, and an enthusiastic crowd rose to their energetic performance, led by the engaging Bridgette Amofah. Whilst the frontwoman’s vocals ranged across the soul influenced end of the pop spectrum, the rest of the band mined a eclectic seam. There were the obvious Jewish klezmer influences (the band’s name roughly translates from the Yiddish for oh dear!), shot across by the Balkan folk strings from violinist Anna Phoebe, all revolving around a resolutely western European rhythm section. It struck me as slightly too busy, the highlight coming on the relatively laid back Photograph off the band’s recent Travelling The Face Of The Globe LP. Judging by the reaction of the crowd, who joined in clear favourite Refugee, they’d won a fair number of new fans.

Shortly afterwards an array of small amplifiers and acoustic guitars had lined the stage, and the seven members of Tinariwen appeared – clad, as always in traditional gear. As they began their set the band could seldom be heard amongst the hubbub of the more apathetic members of the crowd, sadly a trait that seems to be overcoming even the most expensive of London shows. Despite a quiet start the band quickly hit their stride, with vocal harmonies ringing across the stage. Percussive duties were filled by a single man and multiple hand claps, providing a playful rhythm around which multiple guitar lines wound.

In complete contrast to Oi Va Voi it was easy to place the sound of the band, not needing the colourful imagery of their homeland behind them to highlight its origin. However it was also in complete contrast to Amadou & Mariam, the Malian band I’d seen support Blur a few days earlier, despite sharing the same musical cues. This was undoubtedly the music of the desert, the wonderfully ceaseless and cyclical bass mimicking the never-ending dunes. And yet it fitted the venue perfectly. There was no jarring juxtaposition – Tinariwen deserve to playing venues like this to crowds this size and I doff my cap to iTunes for putting the band on an otherwise pretty conservative bill. A mesmeric performance by the former Touareg rebels.

Oi Va Voi – Photograph
Tinariwen – Imidiwan Afrik Tendam

Watch Tinariwen perform Amassakoul at Live 8 Eden

17 July, 2009
Posted by admin at 9:40 pm
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London Live, Rave, Review
Tagged with: 9 July, iTunes Live, Live Review, Oi Va Voi, Roundhouse, Tinariwen

Morton Valence: Bob And Veronica Ride Again
Released 4th May 2009
Bastard Recordings

Morton Valence’s debut is an achingly British slab of pop, so desperate to tell us the story of the title’s namesakes that it comes packaged with a romantic novella. Thankfully, unlike many concept records, the album forms a coherent whole and begs to be listened to from start to finish. It does this whilst constantly shifting in style; dipping from Jesus And Mary Chain style shoegaze on the fantastic “I Must Go,”Said Veronica, “But I Will Always Come Back” through to classic electropop reminiscent of Saint Etienne or Black Box Recorder . The similarities to the latter don’t end there either, with Anne Gilpin recalling the glacial delivery of Sarah Nixey.

Whilst treading the same well worn boards as their pop peers Morton Valence carry the whole thing off with such charm, wit and panache that it never comes across as anything but original. I can’t wait for word to catch on about this glorious piece of work, and I suspect neither can the fans who invested in ‘shares’ of the album to ensure its release. A wonderful album that deserves to be near the top of the pile come the year end reckoning.

Rating:

For our London readers there are a couple of opportunities to catch Morton Valence over the next few weeks in the city. The first is on June 25 at the last of their Bob And Veronica Book Club events at The Enterprise, and also a chance for a bit of a boat party on July 9 as they play the Battersea Barge.

Morton Valence – Hang It On The Wall (mp3)
Morton Valence – Chandelier (video)