Tired Pony - The Ghost Of The Mountain
Release Date: 1 October
Label: Polydor
Rating: 6.0 out of 10
What do you get when you combine Belle & Sebastian, R.E.M, occassional contributors Editors and Zooey Deschanel and Snow Patrol? The answer's in the blog title. Wanting to foray into country and Americana, this supergroup has already released their debut. Wary as you are permitted to be about supergroups, 'Tired Pony' is not that bad. Because it honestly does sound like a combination of these bands. Gary Lightbody's presence is most felt because he's provided the majority of the vocals, but the additions of very pretty tinkling, country strings and some polite electronic post proudction effects lend themselves to the combination of elements in a positive way.
Blow by blow:
Blow by blow:
01: I Don't Want You As A Ghost - Lightbody's vocals sound deliciously strained and uncharacteristically raspy as he whines about wanting to be wanted. A lighthearted choir joins him in his pleas, elevating the piece with sweet harmonies. The wordless 'ooh-ooh' choir provide a bridge with a guitar that sounds like it's come out of some post motown disco number. This is not Snow Patrol, but its obviously Lightbody.
02: I'm Begging You Not To Go - A slight country guitar gently picks out the intro as Gary continues begging and pleading. It sounds like someone who's read about country music on wikipedia trying his hand at it for the first time. Mercifully it falls far short of anything too devastating.
03: Blood - By this point it's sounding remarkably more like Snow Patrol circa A Hundred Million Suns. More upbeat choirs lifting this tonk tonk tonk. "This is real / this is really happening". It's more the wide-eyed, heartfelt lyrics that make it feel more SP.
04: The Creak In The Floorboards - The Snow Patrol-ness continues in this heart-bled, beautifully building track. Restrained, soft guitar riffs and crystal clear, sweet keys carry the verses into a surging, sing-along, irresistible chorus.
05: All Things All At Once - Finally here is the country-tinged Americana we were promised. More SP-ish lyrics. Lots of crystaline country strings. The sheer amount of "Oh oh" choruses do lend themselves to a slight neo-folk sound.
06: Wreckage & Bones - For such a bleak title, this is one of the sweetest moments on the album. The country strings persist over a faint Postal Service type electronic drum beat. Lightbody displays vocal acrobatics. It's a frost tinged frolic by a country stream, complete with dew-drop spider webs and shafts of pinky golden sunlight, in the form of handclaps and post production echoes. Lightbody's voice isn't holding up too well towards the end. Makes you wonder how it's new raspiness will affect the next Snow Patrol album.
07: The Beginning Of The End - New vocals, a heavier electronic sound and a sense of freshly awoken urgency push this album along. The chorus is eager, the rest of the track sort of marches along politely.
08: Carve Our Names - A distorted drum interrupts more pleasant tinkling. Maybe one of the more forgettable tracks.
09: Ravens & Wolves - This begins in a very SP way, kicking very unexpectedly into a harder, lilting chorus. Which is immediately swallowed up in more of Lightbody's whining. It is really effervescent in it's chorus though, taking the weights off the sound and letting it soar into epic-ness.
10: Punishment - Someone dropped a pulsy, charged electric thing. It proceeds to lead this track into a post New Wave feel. Part New Order, part Cure. I wish someone else had done vocals for this track. It could have been something quite different. Sounds like the end of the album in all of it's layers and upbeat positivity. But that can't be right because they hardly went anywhere yet? Oh yeah...two more tracks..
11: Ghost Of The Mountain - The same post punk bass hangs in the moody background of an otherwise light and airy acoustic ballad. The choir are back and sounding better than ever. Pleasing stuff. Would have been corny to end on such a positive note anyway.
12: Your Way Is The Way Home - All attempts at combining the various band's influences are seemingly abandoned (apart from the wife of the Belle & Sebastian guy), as this sounds like a straight up 'Final Straw' B-Side. A pretty way to finish a pretty album.
If you are not expecting too much, this is a right decent album with a lot of replay appeal I think. The fact that so much talent is present in one band makes it rather disappointing that it doesn't branch out too far. There is very little Americana present here, regardless of influence. And the few country moments that do appear are so timid and restrained that you wonder why they bother. But is a decent effort.
WVS.
02: I'm Begging You Not To Go - A slight country guitar gently picks out the intro as Gary continues begging and pleading. It sounds like someone who's read about country music on wikipedia trying his hand at it for the first time. Mercifully it falls far short of anything too devastating.
03: Blood - By this point it's sounding remarkably more like Snow Patrol circa A Hundred Million Suns. More upbeat choirs lifting this tonk tonk tonk. "This is real / this is really happening". It's more the wide-eyed, heartfelt lyrics that make it feel more SP.
04: The Creak In The Floorboards - The Snow Patrol-ness continues in this heart-bled, beautifully building track. Restrained, soft guitar riffs and crystal clear, sweet keys carry the verses into a surging, sing-along, irresistible chorus.
05: All Things All At Once - Finally here is the country-tinged Americana we were promised. More SP-ish lyrics. Lots of crystaline country strings. The sheer amount of "Oh oh" choruses do lend themselves to a slight neo-folk sound.
06: Wreckage & Bones - For such a bleak title, this is one of the sweetest moments on the album. The country strings persist over a faint Postal Service type electronic drum beat. Lightbody displays vocal acrobatics. It's a frost tinged frolic by a country stream, complete with dew-drop spider webs and shafts of pinky golden sunlight, in the form of handclaps and post production echoes. Lightbody's voice isn't holding up too well towards the end. Makes you wonder how it's new raspiness will affect the next Snow Patrol album.
07: The Beginning Of The End - New vocals, a heavier electronic sound and a sense of freshly awoken urgency push this album along. The chorus is eager, the rest of the track sort of marches along politely.
08: Carve Our Names - A distorted drum interrupts more pleasant tinkling. Maybe one of the more forgettable tracks.
09: Ravens & Wolves - This begins in a very SP way, kicking very unexpectedly into a harder, lilting chorus. Which is immediately swallowed up in more of Lightbody's whining. It is really effervescent in it's chorus though, taking the weights off the sound and letting it soar into epic-ness.
10: Punishment - Someone dropped a pulsy, charged electric thing. It proceeds to lead this track into a post New Wave feel. Part New Order, part Cure. I wish someone else had done vocals for this track. It could have been something quite different. Sounds like the end of the album in all of it's layers and upbeat positivity. But that can't be right because they hardly went anywhere yet? Oh yeah...two more tracks..
11: Ghost Of The Mountain - The same post punk bass hangs in the moody background of an otherwise light and airy acoustic ballad. The choir are back and sounding better than ever. Pleasing stuff. Would have been corny to end on such a positive note anyway.
12: Your Way Is The Way Home - All attempts at combining the various band's influences are seemingly abandoned (apart from the wife of the Belle & Sebastian guy), as this sounds like a straight up 'Final Straw' B-Side. A pretty way to finish a pretty album.
If you are not expecting too much, this is a right decent album with a lot of replay appeal I think. The fact that so much talent is present in one band makes it rather disappointing that it doesn't branch out too far. There is very little Americana present here, regardless of influence. And the few country moments that do appear are so timid and restrained that you wonder why they bother. But is a decent effort.
WVS.
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| Worst game of hide & seek ever. |
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