Three years ago, I upped sticks from Belfast to London. I was battling my way through an hour and a half commute every morning, through a frosty city, finally arriving to a job I really didn’t enjoy.
Often, I'd leave and return from the job in darkness, knackered. It was then that I became enamoured with Music Complete by New Order, their 10th studio album.
Music Complete's thumping kick drums and driving arpeggiators gave me energy and made me feel gritty when I needed it. The way they've balanced metronomic form through every track with sweeping guitar riffs and synth washes – it's been inspiring to me.
Songs like Academic have one circular idea running through the whole thing, giving it this reliable driving pulse but countermelodies keep it interesting. It's fun, but it's refined.
The writing seemed to apply so closely to my own life where I was going through an an isolating time and the album made me feel less alone. I think that’s a marker of a good song – empathy.
The album tackles melancholic topics head on with an uplifting tone. If it taught me anything, it’s to keep things lyrically direct and give the instrumentation finer detail.
I found solace in the opening track Restless. I loved the determined urgency of Singularity, and Plastic just made me want to dance. Music Complete levelled with me, and it kept me going when I needed it to. It's the album that reminds me not to give up on progress.
Electro-pop singer-songwriter Aislinn Logan’s latest single is Wait On Me and she plays Upstairs at Whelan’s on Friday, November 23rd.
