Shattered Dreams - Lessons Through Living

(self-released, 2011)

Things seem to be going pretty well for Shattered Dreams; they’ve already played the O2 and the Regal, they’ve recorded with local legend Rich Haines and seem to come fully endorsed by Nightshift who recently awarded them the coveted Demo of the Month honour. Which makes us wonder: what has everyone else been listening to?

Everything about Shattered Dreams seems to be a preset; from the band’s logo (which looks like it was created using some kind of Myspace band logo generator) to the song names (“Round and Round”, “Live and Learn”). Everything is safe, generic and ultimately anonymous.

And unfortunately the same can be said of their music. Their recent Nightshift review suggested that they were the antithesis of what “some Disney executive’s idea of what grunge should sound like.” It’s actually quite the contrary – they sound like the aforementioned exec combined the elements of every pop-punk band that managed to crack the Billboard Hot 100 in the last three years and threw them together with a lashing of glue hoping that the resulting pile would resemble a cohesive, viable band. But where the Disney exec might have had the good sense to create hits with repeatable lyrics, hooks and infectious vocal melodies, Shattered Dreams can only offer us a pedestrian, haphazard assembly of chords and an uninspired delivery.

Indeed, the lyrics and the way they are delivered are the most troubling aspects of Shattered Dreams’ songs. We can tell that Steph is a powerful singer; she can hold a note (for the most part) and by all accounts is a good front-woman but she sounds uncomfortable as the voice of this band. Too often she simply mimics what the guitar is doing and uses it as a guide for her vocal melody and the rhythm with which she delivers the lyrics (see “Round and Round”) without emoting or expressing. Perhaps this is because the lyrics are so banal that there’s nothing too compelling to express. They are ripe with laboured couplets and references to being “so free” and “flying high” – meaningless, regurgitated metaphors and buzz words. We hate to be mean to a band so obviously full of optimism, excitement and enthusiasm but Shattered Dreams sound like a bunch of thirteen-year-olds (they’re not) who take all their musical cues from Green Day and all their lyrical inspiration from CBBC teen-dramas.

“Unparalleled” contains a few noteworthy drum fills and a guitar lead that is noteworthy only for its absurdity. Likewise the solo in “Song 109” is a free-roaming, uninhibited affair, the prospect of which would sound appealing if it were coming from the likes of Neil Young or John Frusciante, but the reality of which is cringe-worthy and illustrative of a lack of musical understanding. Scales be-damned!

“Live and Learn” is the diamond in the rough, relatively speaking. Here singer Steph spreads her wings and chooses to wander, albeit at arm’s length, from the guitar’s melody for a spell. And to be fair the song is quite pretty and nicely put-together in places. Musically the song sounds a bit like when bands like Green Day and Blink-182 get a mellow-on; it sounds similar to the latter’s “Adam’s Song.” The arpeggiated electric and acoustic guitars compliment each other nicely. The song is genuinely a breath of fresh air. And then we are dragged back down into the putrid swamp.

Throughout this EP the chord progressions are so recycled, so clumsy and predictable that the results go beyond being amusing and instead become a depressing series of death-dirges for the pop-punk era. It’s horrible to have to shit on a band for their musical limitations, but it’s also horrible to have to listen to Shattered Dreams for any prolonged period of time.

[Originally published on Musicinoxford.co.uk, 31/05/2011]

http://www.musicinoxford.co.uk/2011/05/31/shattered-dreams-lessons-through-living-ep-self-released/

The Rock of Travolta Feature

This month sees the return of post-rock local legends The Rock of Travolta who release Fine Lines, their first album since 2003’s Uluru, on Big Red Sky Records on the 14^th March. OMS recently caught up with guitarist Matt Spooner to talk about the new album, the band’s tumultuous history and the current state of the Oxford music scene.

The Rock of Travolta formed in 2000, released their debut album My Bands Better Than Yours and was handpicked by Radiohead to open their South Park homecoming gig in 2001, instantly making them the darlings of the Oxford music scene. Uluru gained the band national recognition but after the promotional blitz that followed the album’s release, the band went through a transformation. “I joined the band on Valentines Day 2004” Spooner remembers. “At that point there was some new music but, by July, two of the original band members had quit and as a result we didn’t do anything for a while. As you can imagine we were a bit disheartened.”

However the band was soon bolstered by the addition of Jennie Bates on Cello, Keyboard and Bass guitar duties. “By the time Jennie joined in September 2005 we had found a new way of working, and written new music. Jennie’s input gave an extra dimension to the ideas, our confidence lifted and the band suddenly seemed real to us again.” So, how has the change in line-up affected TROT’s sound?

“The music on Fine Lines is more complex. It takes more skill to play. We’re realising this at the moment, having played a lot of the old material recently to promote the re-release of the last two records. We realise that some of these technicalities could be lost on people.”

The recording of Fine Lines began at the end of 2007 at Martin Newton’s Studio 101, and was co-produced by the band and Jimmy Hetherington. “We took a lot of time over the recording and mixing the album. It was pretty meticulous stuff. Jimmy and Martin have both played huge roles in making it a reality. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.”

“Jimmy is brilliant in the studio and a bloody good musician too. Martin and Big Red Sky really gave us the kick up the arse we needed to get the album out there. We’ve learnt a massive amount from both of them.”

So where do TROT fit into the local music scene, and are there drawbacks to being a purely instrumental band?

“Most bands have words and sing melodies. The traditional approach gives them an immediate familiarity. We have to work a bit harder. Somewhere in the writing process we need to decide whether we’re going to try and provide a focus, carry peoples attention with melody and if so, what instrument will carry it? Sometimes it’s the case that we’re going to emphasize the absence of a lead instrument.”

As for the challenges of being an instrumental band, Spooner notes “It’s pretty easy gaining an audiences attention, holding it is the real trick.”

“It must be challenging for an audience listening to us. One minute it seems like we’re building serious guitar atmospheres, and the next we’re blowing a big musical raspberry at it all with some tongue-in-cheek squelchy electronica.”

Having already mentioned a few local bands, Spooner was enthusiastic about the current state of the Oxford music scene.

“There’s some brilliant music coming out of Oxford at the moment. Bands like Ivy’s Itch, Dive Dive and Smilex are as disturbing, inventive and brutal as ever but Oxford also has an exciting younger crop of bands too. I’m really enjoying Von Braun, Gunning for Tamar, Phantom Theory, Spring Offensive and Undersmile. The continuous wealth of bands in Oxford shows that music is about life just as much as ambition.”

So what’s next for TROT? “We’re doing a lot of work to give the album the push it deserves but we also have an EP mixed and mastered that we would like to release at the end of the year. On top of that, there are four other tunes written.”

So Oxford’s instrumental darlings are back and in beautifully, anarchic form.

“We didn’t set out to make something difficult, we just play what we want.”

[Originally printed in Oxfordshire Music Scene magazine, issue 13, April 2011]

http://www.oxfordmusicscene.co.uk/images/oms_issue13.pdf

Listing Ships - Maiden Voyage

(self-release, 2011)

[NOTE: I’ve actually written reviews of this EP for both OMS and Music In Oxford]

Listing Ships combine elements of many of the great nineties post-rock bands; from the cyclical, jarring grooves of Rodan, the tense, spidery guitar work of Slint, the interlocking rhythms of Shipping News and the expansive, airy elegance of Tortoise. Add to that some anthemic guitar heroics via Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins and we’re clearly off to a winner. Opening track ‘Equus Ager’ is a glorious, triumphant start to the collection while ‘All Aboard the Andrea Doria’ builds from a Slint-playing-schizoid-jazz opening to an “oh-shit, Slint-are-about-to-sink-the-ship” finale. ‘Skipper’s Daughter’ borrows from the kinetic, rhythmic sonic palette of Tortoise and the whole collection nods to 90s-revialists like Broken Social Scene by way of a series of big indie choruses - choruses without words. Boasting former members of Witches and Sunnyvale, it was clear that Listing Ships would be an interesting band but Maiden Voyage illustrates that they’re on their way to becoming a great one.

[Originally printed in Oxfordshire Music Scene magazine, issue 13, April 2011]

http://www.oxfordmusicscene.co.uk/images/oms_issue13.pdf

Whether Maiden Voyage is a reference to the seminal Herbie Hancock album of the same name or merely a nautical metaphor for their debut release, Listing Ships arrive on our shores in a triumphant blaze of post-rock guitar heroics. This gang of merry sailors includes former members of Sunnyvale Noise Sub-Element and Witches and they return to the local scene in glorious fashion.

If it isn’t already implied by the repeated mentions of ‘post-rock’, this is a strictly instrumental affair and as such Maiden Voyage may divide opinion, but there’s enough going on here to grab the attention of even the most jaded of music fans. Opening track ‘Equus Ager’ is a nineties alternative and post-rock nostalgia trip, combining elements of Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins and Tortoise to create an anthemic, vast soundscape.

‘All Aboard the Andrea Doria’ starts with a nod to the jarring rhythms of legendary Louisville bands such as Slint and Rodan before easing into the expansive, airy sound of Tortoise and stretching out to the horizon. The song’s tense build up and terrifying, fuzzy outro (which is presumably the part where the Andrea Doria crashes into the SS Stockholm and sinks) suggests a band more indebted to Tweez than Spiderland. ‘Skipper’s Daughter’ successfully manages to evoke the stirring, kinetic motion of fresh water before it crescendos into a tidal wave of rollicking guitar fuzz that finally crests as the song comes to an end and the collection is over.

Listing Ships join the likes of Broken Social Scene and Yuck in having fun reinterpreting (some might say regurgitating) the aesthetics of alternative nineties guitar music and managing to create something interesting. It’s a shame that the ‘supergroup’ iron has already been branded onto these guys’ buttocks because all bands need to earn their place in the limelight but luckily Listing Ships have done that by making a really good first record.

[Originally published on Musicinoxford.co.uk, 12/04/2011]

http://www.musicinoxford.co.uk/2011/04/12/listing-ships-maiden-voyage/

The Half Rabbits - Optimists EP

(self-release, 2011)

‘Gasoline’ starts Optimists promisingly with frenzied drumming and a sleek, subtly driving bassline reminiscent of Interpol. Singer Michael Weatherburn turns in a strong vocal performance and his voice is now immersed into the mix where it had previously been too prominent. Conversely, the most interesting element of ‘Poor Me, Poor You’ – the lead guitar part – is buried too deeply into the mix and the song fails to put enough emphasis on any particular section. ‘Extremadura’ is similar; there are interesting things going on here – we enjoy the Joey Santiago-esque guitar bends – but the song ends kind of abruptly. ‘How The West Was Won’ and ‘Gasoline’ show that The Half Rabbits can write a chorus but they continue to be a bit of a frustrating band and we wish Weatherburn would drop the mannered vocal style and let loose with the rest of the band from time to time.

[Originally printed in Oxfordshire Music Scene magazine, issue 13, April 2011]

http://www.oxfordmusicscene.co.uk/images/oms_issue13.pdf

Vienna Ditto - The Vienna Ditto EP

(self-released, 2011)

Vienna Ditto are the kind of band which you can only presume will go far; that is to say, they sound rather like a band jumping through hoops. Their songs are clearly written with a wide audience in mind and although this is by no means a bad thing it can sometimes detract from the overall power of the songs. ‘Wintertime’ is a sultry start to the EP, sounding like Portishead if they were fronted by Lily Allen rather than Beth Gibbons. They do the sassy front-woman-on-a-mission thing on ‘This is Normal’, with Hatty Taylor singing “this is f’d up” like a combination of Allen, Róisín Murphy and Florence Welch. EP closer ‘Dang’ is a brief but well written love song with an infectiously wily rock guitar riff and suitably ‘indie’ middle eight.

That’s the thing – all the songs are pretty well written and infectious and sound like they’d be at home on the radio, but it’s unlikely that they’d stand out amongst all the other hit-makers who reside there. They’re not quite edgy enough to hook in the hipsters, and nowhere near inane enough to compete with most commercial drivel which leaves Vienna Ditto in a somewhat awkward position. Ironically, the most introverted song here, ‘Best Shot’, is the one in which Vienna Ditto spread their wings musically and where Taylor’s voice feels most comfortable. The song is experimental and atmospheric, unusual even, and the lyrics are suitably bruised; the marching drums and strong expressive vocals recall some of Bjork’s quieter moments. This is where Vienna Ditto’s real strengths lie, but with a Glastonbury performance and a Maida Vale session under their belts already, they may already be on the path to moderate stardom.

[Originally published on MusicInOxford.co.uk, 24/02/11]

http://www.musicinoxford.co.uk/2011/02/24/vienna-ditto-ep/

The Epstein - I Held You Once EP

(Zawinul Records, 2011)

The Epstein are easily one of the best live bands in Oxford. Their expansive, Americana-tinged sound is beautifully rendered live thanks to Jon Berry’s excellent slide-guitar work, a subtle, complimentary rhythm section, gorgeous three-part harmonies and never less than engaging performances from frontman Olly Wills, whose voice is pure and emotive. The accolades they’ve received from a whole host of magazines and personalities including Whispering Bob Harris have been wholly deserved thus far and would make many a bumbling country musician jealous. Simply, this sampler of their upcoming album is pretty highly anticipated.

I Held You Once is actually something of a departure from The Epstein’s previous material in as much as they have attempted to create a dense, layered studio record, rather than trying to capture their stellar live sound. Opening song ‘I Held You Once’ certainly has the sweeping, cinematic feel that Wills and co are aiming for; layers of strummed acoustic guitar, and picked electric guitars build elegantly over one another and each new part feels like it has been placed with such planned precision that it must have it’s own mathematic formula. Wills’ voice is crisp and clear, devoid of any of the Americanisms which crept into his previous vocal work. As Wills sings the bittersweet tagline of the song – “I held you once, it was the longest night of my life” – the band kicks into a driving beat and a circular guitar figure, reminiscent of Fleet Foxes’ ‘White Winter Hymnal.’ It’s a gorgeous song which has already become a highlight of their live set.

‘Ring on Her Finger’ however returns to more familiar sonic territory, not just for The Epstein but for country music in general, and although the song plods along nicely – particularly the underlying banjo and bass which actually make the song bounce rather than plod – one can’t help but feel like we’ve heard it all before. Wilco’s ‘She’s a Jar’ is one of the songs which springs to mind and although it might be unfair, or inaccurate, to judge one band’s song against another’s, the point is that this song is perhaps a little too familiar for comfort. Closing track ‘Another Band Has Gone’ is a rather by the numbers, bleak folk song and is over before it has had much of a chance to make an impression. Perhaps it will need to be heard in the context of the rest of the album to be fully appreciated but as the last song here it sounds like the sort of b-side you’d expect from an Americana band. Not bad by any means, but not particularly noteworthy either.

Here we have a band that is clearly ready to take the next step into the musical spotlight and one which probably deserves to be in it already. The accompanying press release emphasises the large amount of time that the band spent in the studio perfecting this new sound which has received glowing reviews from the Independent, Q, Rolling Stone and the like. And that is why it is so sad to report that although one certainly can’t fault the musicianship and craftsmanship on display here, these songs are hard to get too excited about because it feels like we’ve already heard them.

A bittersweet release then, not unlike the sentiment in the opening song. It’s hard not to feel a little disappointed by two-thirds of this release, but maybe that’s because we’re judging The Epstein against their own high standards.

[Originally published on Musicinoxford.co.uk, 08/03/2011]

http://www.musicinoxford.co.uk/2011/03/08/the-epstein-i-held-you-once/

Dead Jerichos - Mountains

I may be one of the few reviewers in Oxford who isn’t enthused by Dead Jerichos. They have far more style than they do substance and “Mountains” is a four and a half minute example of how to make a two chord wonder sound more impressive than it really is. In fact it brings to mind the Bill Bailey routine where he demonstrates how less-epic U2 riffs are without the digital delay. They may be the so-called “hardest working band in Oxford” but this is just lazy songwriting.

Death of Hi-Fi - Cold

(free download, 2011)

“Some instrumental tracks inspired by an 80′s childhood spent living in fear of Global thermonuclear war.”

The Cold War, and in particular its implicit threat of nuclear apocalypse , had a profound effect on Western society; nowhere was this more apparent than in American culture. Perhaps this is why so much of the music and samples on ‘Cold’, Death of Hi-Fi’s Cold War inspired-album are taken from American music and film. Snippets of propaganda films weave in and out of these hip hop beats which clearly take their influences from American producers, ranging from Public Enemy’s Bomb Squad to El-P.

Opening track ‘redashalpha’ appears to be something of a tribute to the house music of the early nineties. The combination of house synths and various samples featuring the word ‘bomb’ gives the song a momentum which is creepily offset by the inclusion of the chirpy opening song from the animated propaganda film ‘Duck and Cover’ – a film which instilled in a generation of American children a fear of the Soviet Union and the belief that the best defence from a nuke was to duck under the table.

‘Purple Skies’ brings the hip hop influence more clearly to the forefront and sounds pleasingly similar to DJ Shadow; the combination of ethereal keyboards and a wailing guitar solo recall some of the highlights of Entroducing, easily making this the cinematic highlight of the collection. “’79′, a short instrumental piece, again continues the strong hip hop feel and, despite its brevity, is just begging for an MC to jump on it. ‘We’re still here’ is another highlight – spooky, atmospheric, perfectly in keeping with the album’s paranoid tone.

The second half of the album is slightly more fuzzy and haphazard. ‘The Fool who would be King’ begins promisingly with a strong beat, but falls just short in its attempt to create a bleak post-apocalyptic epic, taking the keyboard arpeggios a step too far into aimless noodling. Penultimate song ‘Scorched earth’ has a wonderfully woozy quality to it which escalates as layers of delay crest over one another like creeping fogs of nuclear radiation; it sounds like one of El-P’s calmer moments. Album closer ‘Meathook Reality’ meanwhile is an amateurish take on the late J Dilla’s more electronic beats and feels like an afterthought.

You could take out all of the samples which blatantly refer to the Cold War and nuclear fallout and still have a mostly serviceable collection of hip hop instrumentals here, which is either a testament to the quality of the music or evidence of the band failing in their attempt to create music which evokes the feeling of growing up in fear of the atomic bomb. The music here is more dynamic than most static hip hop beats but not quite dynamic enough to stand alone. If Death of Hi-Fi could find an MC to speak for them then we’d really be talking.

[Originally published on Musicinoxford.co.uk, 10/02/11]

http://www.musicinoxford.co.uk/2011/02/10/death-of-hi-fi-cold/

Various Artists - Spires: A Collection of Music From Oxford Bands

(Free Download, 2011)

When NME recently ran an article on the ‘mysterious’ Blessing Force scene, it gave the nation the impression that those bands were running the Oxford music scene when in fact a lot of regular punters and hard working Oxford bands had hardly heard of most of them. Here, Aaron from Phantom Theory has taken this as an opportunity to compile a collection of those Oxford bands which are really out there, gigging, making music and working hard. If you follow the local scene then you’ll recognise the bands spotlighted here; Black Hats, Dead Jerichos, Dial F, TROT, Ute, Spring Offensive et al. This isn’t a surprising compilation by any means, and the songs collected here are among the respective bands’ most well known. It’s a simple idea - just as Jon Spira’s upcoming documentary Anyone Can Play Guitar will attempt to give a history lesson on Oxford music, Spires catalogues some of the city’s best current bands. Don’t lament the bands which have been left off this compilation, the idea behind Spires is admirable and it’s free, so go direct those who have been misinformed by NME to go download it.

http://spirescompilation.wordpress.com/

[Originally printed in Oxfordshire Music Scene magazine, issue 12, February 2011]

http://www.oxfordmusicscene.co.uk/images/oms_issue12.pdf

Wild Swim - A Glimpse Into the Night

(free download, 2011)

I’m not afraid to say that when I first encountered Wild Swim – back when they were Picturehouse – I judged them. It was last summer and they were getting ready to sound-check in the Wheatsheaf. They had arrived on time, were all very young and well dressed and had a bunch of equipment that was to die for. The keyboard player sound-checked some classical piece, the bassist played some precision funk-bass thing. “Ah, just another bunch of classically-trained public school-educated musos with no heart”, I grunted to myself.

And then they started playing and I realised the joke was on me.

They blew the entire audience away, not only with the level of musicianship on display, but also with the apparent ease with which their songs spanned genres and styles while maintaining one unique sound. And they looked like they were having fun doing it.

‘A Glimpse Into the Night’ highlights a band that has acquired mastery of creating mood music with layers of circular guitar patterns, frenetic drumming, synth flourishes, and frontman Richard Sansom’s powerful croon. The title track is a perfect example; it’s mysterious and warm, multi-faceted and musically diverse – the break-beat drum, bass and piano middle-eight is inspired. ‘Happy Heat’ is a placid, lilting, romantic acoustic number, equal parts Kings of Convenience, latter day Beatles and the end even brings to mind Oxford’s own Pyschid. (Background natter also suggests that Broken Social Scene’s ‘Just Like the Sun’ as an influence.) ‘Meek and Mild’ is the most conventional song in the bunch but saying that it still manages a few surprises in the form of clever lyrical couplets, a driving funk bassline and an inexplicable scratch solo from the resident DJ. The song’s middle-eight sounds like a classic Radiohead vocal breakdown. EP closer ‘The Surrender’ continues the Radiohead vibe further with some excellent drumming and meandering guitar and bass-lines.

Wild Swim have certainly developed since their Picturehouse days and the songs now rely less on choruses and big electro riffs and more on mood, layers of texture and structure. Sansom’s voice is more refined now, sounding like a combination of Morrissey, Antony Hegarty and Al Bowlly, and his style complements the songs perfectly, never threatening to overshadow the rest of the band. If they can manage to maintain the delicate balance of musicianship and songwriting they’ve displayed here, there’s no telling how far they can go.

[Originally published on Musicinoxford.co.uk, 26/01/2011]

http://www.musicinoxford.co.uk/2011/01/26/wild-swim-a-glimpse-into-the-night/

Cat Matador - The Address EP

(Beard Museum, 2011)

The Address is a well crafted collection of songs which compliment and flow into one another. At a scant 16 minutes in length, it sometimes feels like it’s over before it has begun but repeated listens reveal an EP which ebbs and flows with quiet meditations giving way to bursts of energy. ‘The Address’, fittingly, most typifies this formula and is the best platform for Liam’s voice which is subtly emotive while the inventive drum work in the ‘The Family That Couldn’t Sleep’ lends the song a sense of underlying frustration. ‘When Did You Go Blind?’ is the highlight and perhaps the most simple; the combined effect of the organ, bass line and breathy backing vocal is decidedly autumnal and the song has an understated elegance akin to Mercury Rev’s ‘Tides of the Moon’. While there are certainly elements of The National and Arcade Fire in these songs, the overall tone suggests Elbow are a strong influence. Give it a few plays and you’ll find that The Address has spoken to you.

[Originally printed in Oxfordshire Music Scene magazine, issue 12, February 2011)

http://www.oxfordmusicscene.co.uk/images/oms_issue12.pdf

White Noise Sound - White Noise Sound

(Alive Natural Sound Records, 2011)

Swansea-based six-piece White Noise Sound’s eponymous debut album starts promisingly with opening track ‘Sunset’, which rolls along like early Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, while ‘Blood’s repetitive riff and electronic flourishes sounds like …Come Down-era Dandy Warhols. ‘There Is No Tomorrow’ is reminiscent of the Verve with its layered, illuminating guitars and distant, paranoid vocal. Album closer ‘(In Both) Dreams & Ecstasies’ builds to a lovely, hypnotic climax which would do Gomez proud. One of the drawbacks of WNS is that they have a habit of getting locked into a groove they can’t get out of. Indeed, ‘Blood’ is apparently so groovy that it leaves an eight-minute reprise in its wake. The album flows like a series of ungodly nights out and soundtracks the comedowns that inevitably follow and this is where some of the album’s flaws can be found. At their best WNS combine the reverb-heavy vocals of My Bloody Valentine with the buzzing, triumphant guitars of BRMC and if they lose some of the long, meandering instrumental sections they’ll soon be a force to reckon with.

The World Is Not Flat - to both sides, dear

(Jam Jar Records, 2010)

The World Is Not Flat! is a transatlantic folk duo consisting of American guitarist and singer Chris Faroe and Roxy from Oxford’s very own The Mountain Parade. Opening song ‘Cranes’ sets the tone and dynamic for the rest of the album; hushed vocals, wistful, conversational lyrics and subtle instrumental flourishes backing up the ever present acoustic guitars calling to mind early Iron and Wine records but with slightly less lo-fi fuzz. ‘Passing Trains’ is the most dynamic song on the album, and in that sense was the obvious choice for the single but TWINF! are at their best when they strip the ingredients down to simple instrumentation and their sweet, almost whispered vocals. ‘Glastonbury’ is perhaps the highlight of the album, a mournful song of cross-Atlantic longing with some beautiful harp accompaniments.

At some points the saccharine feel of the album begins to grate but songs like ‘Jericho’ have an enchanting air of mystery about them and we’re reminded that this is after all an album about friendship and bridging two continents, a point highlighted by an instrumental sound-piece which divides the album into the halves recorded in England and America. This is a ‘lovely’ album but whether you take that to be a bad or a good thing is up to you.

[Originally printed in Oxfordshire Music Scene, issue 10, Autumn 2010]

http://www.oxfordmusicscene.co.uk/images/oms_issue10.pdf

Fixers - Amsterdam

(Self-released, 2010)

Fortunately, they’ve moved beyond the Animal Collective fixation which sullied ‘Iron Deer Dream’ and with their new release Fixers return to forging their own unique sound, reimagining the psychedelic elements of Smile-era Beach Boys. When they add a Tears For Fears-like vocal the combination is oddly transfixing and wonderful. The song meanders around unexpected chord changes while the warm organ sounds and huge reverb-heavy drums help to make ‘Amsterdam’ a real trip for the senses.

[Originally printed in Oxfordshire Music Scene, issue 11, Winter 2010]

http://www.oxfordmusicscene.co.uk/images/oms_issue11.pdf

The Vatican Cellars - The Same Crooked Worm

(Where It’s At Is Where You Are Records, 2010)

The title track which starts The Vatican Cellars album is a deceptively simple folk song; circular, picked guitar, a stripped down drum kit, a double bass and a mournful cello form the basis of the instrumentation while lead singer Simon’s gentle, purely English voice hovers over a tale of “beauty and sadness” with “humour and kindness.” After repeated listens the song begins to sound like a lost classic, breezy and uplifting and a fitting taster of what is to come.

Indeed, this formula is repeated throughout much of the album which proves to be both a good and bad thing. ‘The End of the Line’ is a beautifully sad, lilting song while the vibrato strings in ‘The Wreck of the Alba’ introduce the first hint of drama on the album. ‘My Black Pearl’ sounds like the Pogues if they’d been formed at Jesus College over a glass of wine rather than too much rum.

‘Bitter Plans’ is a late highlight with its wonderfully chaotic contrast between the rhythms of the guitars and drums and the floating vocal line. At times TSCW sounds akin to Coldplay’s Parachutes but with more literate lyrics and a gloomier disposition. By the second half of the album the formula wears a bit thin and one feels that a slight change of tone or pace would do these guys (and gal) a world of good on what is an otherwise well crafted album.

[Originally printed in Oxfordshire Music Scene magazine, issue 11, Winter 2010]

http://www.oxfordmusicscene.co.uk/images/oms_issue11.pdf