Rock/Pop

The latest releases reviewed

MARY BLACK
Twenty Five Years - Twenty Five Songs
3Ú Records
****
Mary Black showcases a wealth of memories on this 25th-anniversary retrospective. Drawing the bulk from her breakthrough period of the late 1980s and early 1990s, Black glistens in the hands of her preferred writers: Jimmy McCarthy and Noel Brazil. Some of the arrangements have dated (Song for Ireland and Only a Woman's Heart), but this double CD collection is a snapshot of a formidable interpreter who, by the sounds of the Tom Waits bonus track, If I Have to Go, may have another career awaiting her as an interpreter of international songwriters. Waits and Joni Mitchell spring to mind, not to mention Broadway writers such as Stephen Sondheim. A justly eclectic celebration of an artist ever in search of the unploughed furrow. www.mary-black.net SIOBHÁN LONG
Download track: By the Time It Gets Dark

THE LONG BLONDES
Couples
Rough Trade
***
Two years on from a debut that could have bracketed them as art-rock upstarts, The Long Blondes have grown up. While they haven't ditched the serrated guitars or punk-goth tendencies, they have elongated their musical spectrum. Most likely, this is the doing of producer/remixer Erol Alkan, who seems to step in to prevent too much plundering of the past for inspiration. Kate Jackson gives her voice an expanded workout, proving she can step outside the sub-Siouxsie baritone and tackle husky high notes. On Too Clever by Half, you wonder if they've been listening to Goldfrapp, with its sepia-tinted pop and hazy disco. Nostalgia, a piano-and-Hammond- led ode about "moving to the future", is a slow detour, but the bulk of Couples is frantic retro anthems that, while diverting, don't quite reach the giddy stratospheres of their debut.  www.thelongblondes.co.uk SINÉAD GLEESON
Download tracks: I Liked the Boys, Too Clever by Half

I AM KLOOT
Play Moolah Rouge
Skinny Dog
***
This very understated Manchester act have been delivered interesting yet non-headline-grabbing music over the course of three previous albums. On the 10-track Play Moolah Rouge they continue with an appealing sound that lies somewhere between REM and The Coral. One Man Brawl, the opener, is all woozy guitars, with a terrific set of almost Morrissey-esque lyrics and the judicious use of a Hammond organ. The real standout track is the absorbing Ferris Wheels, which comes across like a Manchester indie band trying to do a nu-country song but pulling up short. It's the sort of layered song The Killers would, eh, kill for. Elsewhere, Hey Little Bird shows how much variety I Am Kloot have in their bag of tricks. A quietly, if not defiantly, good album from one of contemporary rock's least feted acts.  www.iamkloot.com BRIAN BOYD
Download tracks: One Man Brawl, Ferris Wheels

THE BLACK KEYS
Attack & Release
V2/Co-Op
****
It's amazing what a fresh set of ears can hear. Ohio boys Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach's first four albums of spikey, stomping blues didn't quite set the world alight, yet there was definitely something in the water. It took blow-in producer Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton to do for them what he'd also done for Gorillaz and his own Gnarls Barkley. In the case of The Black Keys, Burton has unlocked the drama and lit up the character in the duo's sound. Sure, the blues are still the dominant hue, but there are now also husky soulful hollers, melancholic country richness, heavyweight melodic boogies and plenty of other sonic layers to keep them company. Every track will grab you, from the powerful proggy blast of I Got Mine to the two takes on Remember When.  www.theblackkeys.com JIM CARROLL
Download tracks: I Got Mine, Remember When (Side A & Side B)

MARK GEARY
Opium
Independent Records
****
Mark Geary doesn't do things the easy way. He's a guitar man who's has taken his time getting to this, his third album, but hasn't gone for the easy money. Instead, Geary has written a clutch of very good songs and had a bit of an existential crisis along the way (the title is, possibly, not coincidental). With the help of producer Karl Odlum, a trace of whose fingerprints are detectable on every track, Geary has created a work of solid, melodic beauty. The arresting single Tuesday harks back to a roots base with a 21st-century twist, and the pared-down Atrophy is downright unsettling. Lyrics- wise, this album is like having a conversation with a lovely man who has some bleak and scary thoughts scrabbling around in his head. Don't be fooled by the ambling rhythms and hummable tunes - there's a barb or two hidden among the pretty blooms. Rather wonderful.  www.markgeary.com CLAIRE LOOBY
Download tracks: Not on Your Life, Tuesday, King of Swords

SHE & HIM
Volume One
Merge
****
While the history of actors and actresses having a go at the pop game is not a pleasant one, there are occasions, such as this release from She & Him, where such trends are bucked. The She in question is indie actress Zooey Deschanel (Almost Famous, Weeds) and the Him is noted folky singer-songwriter M Ward. Pitched as a tribute to the charm and class of old-school pop and country tunes, Volume One does more than simply polish a few pastiches. Deschanel and Ward's collaborations amplify each other's strongest traits, namely the sweetly unassuming swing of her voice, the perfect pitch of his arrangements, and the duo's masterly way with a melody. They get it right all the way through, with the understated drama of Sentimental Heart, the punchy fashion of This Is Not a Test and the sassy sauntering of I Thought I Saw Your Face Today very much to their credit. www.myspace.com/sheandhim JIM CARROLL
Download tracks: Sentimental Heart, This Is Not a Test

FRIGHTENED RABBIT
Midnight Organ Fight
Fat Cat Records
****
With all the energy of the gently anthemic Snow Patrol and the hazy touch of a less esoteric Elbow, Glaswegian trio Frightened Rabbit are anything but quivering bunnies when it comes to making sincere, clear-headed rock tunes. With Peter Katis (Interpol) producing, there are no songs here on hard-to-reach shelves - Backwards Walk simply tugs on your heartstrings, while The Modern Leper catapults you through Hutchinson's cloudy alienation towards sunny pockets of pure blue sky. Midnight Organ Fight harbours touchingly clever lyrics, dry wit ("My trousers seem to love your floor") and fresh music served with love. Accessible, guitar-driven indie doesn't get much better. www.myspace.com/frightenedrabbit DEANNA ORTIZ
Download Tracks: The Modern Leper, Head Rolls Off, My Backwards Walk

SODA FOUNTAIN RAG
It's Rag Time!
Yesboyicecream Records
***
Multi-instrumentalist Ragnhild Hogstad Jordahl clearly wants to be Bergen's answer to Bristol's Young Marble Giants: the songs contained on her debut album are whimsical and naive. For all of that, Jordahl certainly has a way with a melody. For want of a better description, she fuses anti-folk with sombre pop in a way that bears repeated listening. Despite titles such as Army of Silent Kids, The Saddest Boy in Town, Angry Girl and The Saddest Boy Again (a theme, methinks), there is good perky pop here, stuffed with lyrics about love, bullies, alienation, being different from the norm, betrayal and old-fashioned miserabilism that it would make Morrissey want to sing Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep for the rest of his life.  www.sodafountainrag.com TONY CLAYTON-LEA
Download tracks: The Saddest Boy in Town, Angry Girl