Album reviews: The best of the week’s new releases

Album of the week

Food

This Is Not A Miracle

ECM

★★★★

Since their inception in the late 1990s, Food have been the proverbial movable feast. What started out as basically an acoustic quartet has been pared down to a core duo – English saxophonist Iain Ballamy and Norwegian drummer Thomas Strønen – who have compensated by gradually introducing more electronic elements and sound processing, with guest collaborators drafted in for specific projects.

But the constant has been the almost reverential way in which Food treat empty space: even at its most frenetic, the duo’s sound seems to emanate from a dark, melancholic silence. Ballamy’s notes hang in a pristine emptiness, like foghorns on a cloud bank, and Strønen’s grooves drift in and out of coherence, as if waiting for the fog to clear.

This Is Not A Miracle, their eighth release, is principally the work of Strønen. With Ballamy and Austrian guitarist Christian Fennesz, the drummer recorded hours of improvised material (with the help of electronica specialist engineer Ulf Holand of David Bowie, Satyricon and Motorpsycho fame) and then spent months reworking it, taking saxophone and guitar fragments and refashioning them into shorter, more structured statements – most of the album’s 11 tracks come in at about four minutes.

“Often when we play live”, says Strønen, “we develop a mood over quite a long time. Now, instead of taking time to find out where to go, I wanted to go there directly, with a clear idea. I wanted to make something that was close to our best improvised moments live, but expressed as shorter passages. So I cut the music to the bone.” But if all that suggests a lack of human warmth, one listen is enough to dispel the accusation.

Ballamy is a saxophonist who, whether he is playing this "future jazz" or English folk melodies with the superb Quercus trio (also appearing in Cork), can invest the simplest phrase with warmth and meaning. His plangent horn floated over Strønen's industrial grooves and Fennesz's layers of processed guitar is like a distant sun breaking through the dark clouds.
Cormac Larkin

New Releases  

The Corrs

White Light

East West

★★

Does the world need another Corrs album? Like it or not, we’re getting one. White Light may be the reunited siblings’ first album in a decade, but it is a wasted opportunity. The Dundalk band were never going to go dubstep, but this collection is as safe as it comes. The glossy electropop of Unconditional and I Do What I Like are as daring as things get, while lyrical clichés abound on the title track and Stay.

Their trademark trad sound is audible on Gerry's Reel and the folky swell of Bring on the Night but even the most authentic song, Ellis Island, is corny in its execution. Fans won't mind that The Corrs haven't progressed musically – but they won't make any new ones with this album, either.
Lauren Murphy

Rustie

EVENIFUDONTBELIEVE

Warp

★★★

The fact Russell Whyte’s third album arrives with little fanfare says much about his desire to go with his instincts. As he’s showed previously, Whyte’s fondness for tweaking and shaping electronic grooves into maximalist dance music has resulted in some startling work. It’s also resulted in a slew of imitators, with the PC Music camp in particular taking note of what his day-glo crayons have produced.

Here, there's an overriding sense of playfulness, as if Whyte didn't see the need to sit around to finesse or even out these gritty, jagged, rough and tough grooves. As they are, tracks like First Mythz, Big Catzz and Peace Upzzz fizz and roll with Whyte's distinctive energy and vigour. As he reclaims some of the ground he ceded with last year's more nuanced Green Language, there's little doubt that Whyte is having a ball.
Jim Carroll

Le1f

Riot Boi

XL

★★★

Former ballet dancer-turned- rapper Le1f has much to achieve on his debut album.  There are agendas around sexuality and race to be rolled into the grooves, cultural barriers to be scaled, and a need for Le1f to show some musical smarts. That he can cram all of this in without losing the plot or the listener is hugely laudable, as is the fierce determination throughout to remain true to himself and who he is.

Between the swaggering tribute to supermodels on Grace Alek Naomi, the sassy mantras around black empowerment on Swirl, the killer strut of Koi and the punky ferocity on Rage, Le1f exerts considerable authority with his art. The barrage of trap motifs and honking sonics catch Le1f having a riot with the tools at his disposal. A vital document from an intriguing artist discovering how to unleash the power of his words.
Jim Carroll

The Orphan Brigade

Soundtrack To A Ghost Story

Proper

★★★★

Suitably strange as it may seem, this is literally a soundtrack to a ghost story. And if the idea of a ghost story prompts raised eyebrows, don’t tell Ben Glover, Neilson Hubbard, Joshua Britt and a large supporting cast, because they spent the guts of 2013 pulling this American civil war project together.

It is a soundtrack because they've made a film about Octagon House, an antebellum house in Kentucky, considered among the most haunted in the US. Make what you will about the documentary, but the 14 Americana tracks, all (except the traditional Paddy's Lamentation) written by Irishman Glover and his two American partners, stand impressively on their own. The first two, Pale Horse and Trouble My Heart (Oh Harriet), are not bettered but the playing, singing and storytelling remains top-notch throughout.
Joe Breen

Various Artists

Whole Lotta Live

Today FM

★★★★

There will always be a certain amount of filler on any charity compilation, but this one – drawn from Today FM’s live session archives and in memory of the late Tony Fenton – has less padding than most. There are numerous gems amidst these 30 original tracks and covers by both Irish and international artists, from The National to David Gray.

Bell X1's swoonsome take on Roy Orbison's She's a Mystery to Me, underrated Cork artist Marc O'Reilly's bluesy Wayward Shepherd and Hozier's slinky interpretation of Led Zeppelin gleam. Foy Vance's acoustic cover of the Theme from Cheers is a real standout that loses none of the original's charm. All in all, you can't begrudge this solid collection for a great cause.
Lauren Murphy

Fufanu

Few More Days To Go

One Little Indian

★★★★

Icelandic duo Kaktus Einarsson and Guolaugur Einarsson (no relation) once operated under the glare of Macbooks as they engaged with techno/electronic music in bars across Reykjavik. What happened next, however, was a far remove from bangin’ beats – grieving a stolen master disc that contained an unreleased techno album, the duo enlisted the services of a new drummer (Frosti Gnarr), embraced metallic psychedelic music, and virtually reimagined My Bloody Valentine’s woozy shoegaze.

Hard and crunchy, the songs on this debut album ooze confidence, if not bravado; first single, Circus Life, is seven minutes of post-punk that may take its cues from Bauhaus, Psychedelic Furs and Joy Division, but not its orders. Other songs such as Blinking and Your Collection offer acute pop sensibilities without spoiling the dark wave fun.
Tony Clayton-Lea

Bjork

Vulnicura String

One Little Indians

★★★★

There’s little doubt that Bjork’s Vulnicura album will feature in many best-of-2015 lists. On this companion piece, she strips out the electronic components which bolstered that album and amplifies and embellishes the strings to put another dramatic spin on those heartbreaking songs, inspired by the break-up of a long-term relationship.

If anything, the moods are darker, menacing and more desolate than the original album, with tracks such as Lionsong, a sparse, spine-tingling reading of Stonemilker and especially a tough, tense Notget setting and stirring the discordant mood. It's worth noting too that Bjork's voice adds strong shades and shadows, as if going back to re-record and restructure the songs has provoked new emotions. Vulnicura Strings may not displace the original in listeners' affections, but it does present another fascinating dimension.
Jim Carroll

Leo Abrahams

Daylight

Lo Recordings

★★★

Three cheers for the backroom workers that burrow down anonymously, assisting here, helping there, and generally being the reliable types musicians depend on for workable ideas. Leo Abrahams is a perfect example – a producer/musician who has collaborated with the likes of Brian Eno, Brett Anderson, David Holmes, Florence Welch, Iarla O Lionaird, Paolo Nutini and too many to list here.

With Daylight – his sixth solo album – Abrahams uses a scattered approach on what he describes as "an album of deconstructed songs." It is exactly that, but amid wilful aspects is music of immense clarity. The influence of regular collaborator and friend Eno is felt throughout; throwing sonic spanners into the works just to see what might happen is something he has been espousing for decades, and Abrahams takes up the baton and runs with it.
Tony Clayton-Lea