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Slow Club | Complete Surrender

by Mel Reeve

It’s evidently been in the works for a while, but at last Slow Club have given their next album a release date – and it seems they’re really going for a big build up as we’re not going to get to hear it in full until mid-July. Personally I’m not a big fan of bands releasing singles that early, because if it’s a good song then I’m only going to play it death and unfortunately (for me at least) Complete Surrender is a very good song indeed.

It's been a while since I've done one of these, so here's a quick selection of what I'm currently enjoying:

Albums/EPs:

Modern Baseball - 'You're Gonna Miss It All': it's been a long time since I've listened to a band for the first time and instantly known I'm going to love them, but that happened with Modern Baseball. The lyrical quickness and quote-ablity of The Front Bottoms, but with a bit more bite in the rest of the sound.

R M Hubbert - 'Thirteen Lost and Found':  He never makes it about how good he is at guitar (although he's clearly very good), it's always about making a beautiful overall sound. There's a track on this release called 'Car Song' which features Aidan Moffat and it might well be my favourite thing he's ever sung on (which is saying something, considering the amount of music he makes/is involved with).

Johnny Foreigner - 'You Can Do Better': the production lets this album down a little bit, but it's still full of all the charm and energy that make Johnny Foreigner such a joy. The final track is really something special too.

Benjamin Shaw - 'Goodbye, Kagoul World':  an artist (and record label) I'm very fond of. I did a track review of the title track of this album, and it pretty much sums up my feelings on the whole thing; careful, clever and lovely.

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Songs:

Gem Club - Polly: as is often the case for me, I discovered this thanks to the perpetually excellent GoldFlakePaint. They described it as  'immersive' and 'striking' - and it's all of those things. Desperately sad in a Perfume Genius kind of way.

Wild Beasts - Wanderlust: this reminded me of Liars a bit. Very catchy and fun.

Julia Stone - By the Horns: I've been writing a lot of essays whilst listening to Julia Stone, but this track made me pause and listen without even really realising it. Lyrically powerful and vocally elegant.

Playlounge - Waves and Waves and Waves: if you're feeling a bit angsty, but still want something (relatively) melodic then this is for you.

St Vincent - Digital Witness: This is super sassy and the album deserves all the praise it's been getting. The weird electronic sounds and the occasionally slightly unusual vocals reminds me a bit of Dear God I Hate myself era Xiu Xiu.

Today (according to an email I just received from Tumblr) is the 3rd birthday of this blog, which is a pretty long time, especially considering this blog wasn't even started with much of an aim in mind.

Why not take a read through the archive to celebrate such a joyous day.

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Leeds indie rockers Sky Larkin have been keeping quiet since their second album Kaleide was released in 2010 – to the point where you’d be forgiven for wondering if they’d very quietly ended the band. Thankfully however they’ve returned to the scene with a gorgeous album, still sounding as fresh, energetic and brim-full of hooks as they did back then.

The level of sheer excitement and energy that Sky Larkin manage to communicate in their music can be a little overwhelming, but on Motto they’ve channeled and honed this giddy power into something sharper and slicker. Nowhere is this more obvious than on Italics, which opens with a delicious, sassy guitar riff of which Sleater Kinney would be more than proud.

There’s a pleasant sense of melancholy on this album, underlying the fast-paced drumbeats and Katie Harkin’s mellow vocals. Overgrown builds from a soft, plaintive start into a heart-wrenching track crafted from echoing layers. “In the hills above Bradford, there was a horrid accident” she sings mournfully.

It’s the closing track Que Linda (Wake To Applause) that particularly shows a new, more delicate side to the band. The ability to craft a truly sad song is a staple of almost all high quality indie bands today and it’s often the closing track. We should all feel somewhat blessed that Sky Larkin have turned their talented hands to this particular style because this track is really something special; atmospheric and just plain lovely. Harkin has a talent for one sentence lines that evoke something strong, as with the mysterious accident in Bradford, this time she simply states “there’s music floating down from an open window” and combined with the wavering keyboard in the background a whole scene and landscape is created in your mind.

REVIEW: FIREBURG’S FIRST FILM NIGHT HIGH FIDELITY VS EMPIRE RECORDS Firebug Bar 28 Feb 2013

REVIEW BY MEL REEVE:

Firebug is Leicester’s cosiest and hippest pub-come-venue, always providing a wealth of interesting and exciting gigs as well as a variety of other events, such as their infamous pub quiz.

In the next few weeks and months alone this delightful place has got live music from bands including Tall Ships (Wednesday 6th March), Ace Bushy Stripteas, Evans The Death (23rd March as part of their Indie Alldayer Festival) and Bats (12th April) . Not content with this busy schedule, Firebug kicked off a brand new monthly Film Club evening on Wednesday, with a cracking double bill; Empire Records and High Fidelity, two brilliant films.

It’s pretty empty when we first arrive upstairs, but it’s worth bearing in mind that it’s only the first time they’ve done this (and we can only hope it doesn’t put them off doing awesome things like this more often), and it just means there’s even more free popcorn to go around, as well as a wider choice of seats. A couple of the people I’d invited to join me decided to go to the cinema in Highcross and take advantage of Orange Wednesdays, but when faced with a choice between supporting a truly unique and wonderful bar in a new and exciting venture (as well as a more niche selection of films), there really is no contest for me.

It’s also nice to see all the posters in Firebug for Handmade Festival, another brand new event coming to Leicester, which genuinely has one of the best line-ups of any festival I’ve ever seen (Dutch Uncles, Sky Larkin, Johnny Foreigner, We Were Promised Jetpacks, The Twilight Sad, Katie Malco, plus loads of other awesome artists!) and promises to be a fantastic weekend of music.

Coming up on 26th March at 7:00pm there’s a Mean Girls and Clueless double-bill, which is sure to get everyone excited - two truly brilliant films in one sitting. Sadly, that’s slightly after the end of term for most of us Uni of Leicester students, but if you’re intending to stick around for a bit, then make sure you attend as you’re sure to have a great time. Also, make sure you put the Evil Dead 2 vs Shaun of the Dead evening on your calendar too, on 24th April.

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Atmospheric and dreamy, like something off the Twin Peaks soundtrack, Pure X mix beautiful reverb and equally beautiful guitar melodies on this is a gentle, psychedelic indie pop waltz. Painfully personal lyrics are hissed, the vocals that dodge between are delicate yet soulful, and powerful but raw (with a tonal quality and range reminiscent of Christopher Owens from the now-deceased Girls, and a touch of that particular charm Girls brought to guitar music).

If you were expecting the kind of luscious melodies and wonderfully world-weary lyrics of Shaw’s last album ‘There’s Always Hope There’s Always Cabernet’ then you’ll probably be a bit disappointed. That said, Shaw’s flair for adding a slightly unsettling edge to his sound, just when you least expect it is even stronger here and he makes marvellous use of sampled conversations, building a complete piece from tiny component parts. The eerie laughter and chatter on ‘Oh Jesus Shut the Blinds’ blends seamlessly with the slowly unfolding melody.

Much like the artwork this has a bleaker, sparser feel when compared to some of Shaw’s previous work. With ‘There’s Always Hope…’ he wobbled along the border between brilliantly edgy pop music and something truly bizarre yet wonderful, with this release he’s slipped and fallen right into the weird. ‘All Meithered Me’ opens with a blended bastardisation of an orchestra tuning up before melding into Shaw’s distinctive, soft, misery-laden vocals. All the while the music hints at some great feeling of joy, so nearly celebratory and jubilant, and by virtue of being that close to a feeling of total bliss, instead it becomes heart-wrenching, surprisingly so considering the simplicity of the arrangements.

It’s beautifully wacky, constantly surprising, yet strangely peaceful. At times the disturbed, twinkly piano melodies can verge on the irritating, and the background fuzz made me stop and check my speakers were working at one point, but if you give it a chance you might find yourself listening to an unexpected gem. It should perhaps also be mentioned that this album was released on Glass Reservoir, an experimental-noise-project-label, so it’s perhaps not surprising that this album is somewhat…experimental. Benjamin Shaw is proving to be an artist that constantly pushes his sound, something that’s not only admirable but also refreshing. He never does quite what the listener expects, instead choosing to craft a work that reflects his own special kind of dour musical genius.

Parenthetical Girls have never been one of those bands that just do things the usual way. Their last album, Entanglements, was a luscious orchestral work, and in 2009 they released a mini-album in tribute to the works of poet and songwriter Ivor Cutler, deliciously weird in a way only Parenthetical Girls can manage.

For their next release, they’ve ditched the orchestra and picked up the scalpel. The album was originally released as a series of 5 EPs, each one limited to 500 copies, with a different band member drawn beautifully by Swedish artist Jenny Mörtsell on the cover – and numbered in that band member’s blood. This release will not be making use of bodily fluids, instead including a DVD showing the pains (literal and metaphorical) that the band have taken with this unique release, as well as some live shows and other video footage of interest.

With their quintessentially morbid yet mysterious tagline of “we never meant you any harm”, the innovative (and at times gruesome) tale of ‘Privilege’s inception, this album is sure to intrigue. But on the basis of how amazing the individual EPs sounded, it’s sure to have more than just novelty value. Parenthetical Girls have always blended an extraordinary talent for melody into their sound, but these EPs showed exactly how catchy and addictive they can be, but without losing the strange edge that makes them so distinctive.