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
