Early April Album Round-Up (A - Z)
A
Are You Serious
Andrew Bird
Tiger Rating: 9.0 / 10
Neo Folk / Americana
"I don't believe everything happens for a reason" Bird opens with on the duet Left Handed Kisses.
To which Fiona Apple, his impatient lover on the track, responds "To us romantics out here that amounts to high treason".
Andrew Bird hasn't entirely left his whistly folk music behind, but his storytelling has become more lucid. He says as much in as many words in the title track. Possibly due to his newfound lucidity, there is an unmistakeable and irresisitible warmth to this album.
So much so that the three opening tracks on Are You Serious amount to nothing less than soul music. This may be his best work to date.
And yes Mr. Bird, I am completely serious.
Highlights: the album in it's entirety.
Beautiful Lies
Birdy
Tiger Rating: 5.5 / 10
Noir Pop
Now onto a different Bird. Mopey Brit Birdy has brought her epic third album and she's come a long way from covering Bon Iver. Beautiful Lies begins prettily enough, with Jasmine aka Birdy displaying the raw, emotional vocal gymnastics that have many critics dubbing her a less edgy Florence. These are long songs. And it's an album stuffed full of them. And very few of them are upbeat.
She's only 20 but it sounds like she has eons of wisdom to dispense and heartache to lament. It's not that it's not convincing, and it's not that these aren't well written songs (thanks to Van Den Bogaerde), but there is just a distinct lack of variation. We don't all get to be Laura Marling though.
Highlights: Hear You Calling / Keeping Your Head Up / Lifted
IV
Black Mountain
Tiger Rating: 7.0 / 10
Psychedelic Rock apparently
IV is basically Daft Punk meets MGMT (especially on their last album), with large, satisfying dollops of razor sharp blues guitars and the occassional haunting vocals. There is a heavy science fiction theme explored throughout (possibly what made me think of MGMT's last one) and the sound is *just* fresh and interesting enough to hold your attention to the album's conclusion.
Ultimately it's an honourable aspiration here, but the concept feels like they didn't explore it far enough. Something was held back. The aliens never quite make it to earth.
Highlights: spooky opener Mothers of the Sun / catchy synths over 80s metal guitars on Florian Saucer Attack / prog rock wannabe (Over and Over) The Chain
The Wilderness
Explosions In The Sky
Tiger Rating: 7.0 / 10
Instrumental Indie Rock
"Expansive" is the most commonly used adjective for describing Explosions In The Sky's music. It has always been that and no more so on The Wilderness. Instrumental bands, much like abstract art, can only really be defined by the feelings and thoughts their art conjures. Though this album is seemingly about wide open (expansive) spaces, there is more often a feeling of insulation here. Disintegration Anxiety is a good example of this.
The guys seem to have burrowed deep for inspiration, but the album is no less majestic for that.
Highlights: there are no stand outs as the whole thing is intended to be consumed in bulk ;)
Hitch
The Joy Formidable
Tiger Rating: 6.0 / 10
Indie Rock
Few bands effectively manage to capture both stunning melody and gargantuan guitar riffs, but for the past two albums and one EP, Joy Formidable have done just that. Their debut was unexpected and fresh, their follow up was a bit bloated but still exciting. Hitch seems like it's the realization that they can go no further with their deft musical magic, but they sound like they're not quite ready to hang their Fenders up yet.
The sound here is perceptibly slicker, smoother, shinier. It's fractional, but indicates an ease, which is bound to have developed for the Welsh three piece.
Most of the tracks are unecessarily long, as if the band is desperate to stay in the limelight but have nothing new to say. Ritzy's vocals, however, shine here. She sounds as sultry as Chrissy Hines and as confident in the spotlight as Debbie Harry.
Highlights: radio friendly Radio Lips / prog rock Lianna / misplaced but beautiful The Gift
Birdy
Tiger Rating: 5.5 / 10
Noir Pop
Now onto a different Bird. Mopey Brit Birdy has brought her epic third album and she's come a long way from covering Bon Iver. Beautiful Lies begins prettily enough, with Jasmine aka Birdy displaying the raw, emotional vocal gymnastics that have many critics dubbing her a less edgy Florence. These are long songs. And it's an album stuffed full of them. And very few of them are upbeat.
She's only 20 but it sounds like she has eons of wisdom to dispense and heartache to lament. It's not that it's not convincing, and it's not that these aren't well written songs (thanks to Van Den Bogaerde), but there is just a distinct lack of variation. We don't all get to be Laura Marling though.
Highlights: Hear You Calling / Keeping Your Head Up / Lifted
IV
Black Mountain
Tiger Rating: 7.0 / 10
Psychedelic Rock apparently
IV is basically Daft Punk meets MGMT (especially on their last album), with large, satisfying dollops of razor sharp blues guitars and the occassional haunting vocals. There is a heavy science fiction theme explored throughout (possibly what made me think of MGMT's last one) and the sound is *just* fresh and interesting enough to hold your attention to the album's conclusion.
Ultimately it's an honourable aspiration here, but the concept feels like they didn't explore it far enough. Something was held back. The aliens never quite make it to earth.
Highlights: spooky opener Mothers of the Sun / catchy synths over 80s metal guitars on Florian Saucer Attack / prog rock wannabe (Over and Over) The Chain
The Wilderness
Explosions In The Sky
Tiger Rating: 7.0 / 10
Instrumental Indie Rock
"Expansive" is the most commonly used adjective for describing Explosions In The Sky's music. It has always been that and no more so on The Wilderness. Instrumental bands, much like abstract art, can only really be defined by the feelings and thoughts their art conjures. Though this album is seemingly about wide open (expansive) spaces, there is more often a feeling of insulation here. Disintegration Anxiety is a good example of this.
The guys seem to have burrowed deep for inspiration, but the album is no less majestic for that.
Highlights: there are no stand outs as the whole thing is intended to be consumed in bulk ;)
Hitch
The Joy Formidable
Tiger Rating: 6.0 / 10
Indie Rock
Few bands effectively manage to capture both stunning melody and gargantuan guitar riffs, but for the past two albums and one EP, Joy Formidable have done just that. Their debut was unexpected and fresh, their follow up was a bit bloated but still exciting. Hitch seems like it's the realization that they can go no further with their deft musical magic, but they sound like they're not quite ready to hang their Fenders up yet.
The sound here is perceptibly slicker, smoother, shinier. It's fractional, but indicates an ease, which is bound to have developed for the Welsh three piece.
Most of the tracks are unecessarily long, as if the band is desperate to stay in the limelight but have nothing new to say. Ritzy's vocals, however, shine here. She sounds as sultry as Chrissy Hines and as confident in the spotlight as Debbie Harry.
Highlights: radio friendly Radio Lips / prog rock Lianna / misplaced but beautiful The Gift
Everything You've Come To Expect
The Last Shadow Puppets
Tiger Rating: 8.0 / 10
Throwback Rock
Turner and Kane rehash their beautiful bromance on another album together that might not quite be what we've come to expect from them. Admittedly lead single Aviation was dead centre Turner meets Kane, but elsewhere the boys dig into a mid 70s pre disco sound, with third musketeer Owen Pallet manning the string section (he does a lot to take the sound in new directions). Its all so very polished.
It also feels very casual. This is ultimately a side project for both boys - an indulgence (because they can) - and, even if that is false (the planned world tour is incriminating evidence), they pull off the sexy nonchalance so very well.
Highlights: seething guitar meet pristine strings (Dracula Teeth) / Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear becomes a different kind of creature on the title track / sexy 60s swinger's soiree song She Does The Woods
(The White Album)
Weezer
Tiger Rating: 7.0 / 10
Alternative Rock
After their disappointing 2014 return, Weezer have thrown caution to the wind (mercifully) and finally brought us something that is fun, mindless and ultimately miles more cohesive. Finally.
This is the Weezer we want. "Woah oh oh oh" choruses and songs about girls and sunshine and summer. California Kids is an ode to the holidays, L.A. Girlz extols the virtue of the vapid and vain and Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori is a narration of a star crossed summer love affair between a sailor and a mermaid who gets struck by lightning.
There is little depth on this album and that is a great thing. It's a return to the Spring Break Weezer we grew up with and loved. There is youth, vigour, joy and a relentless pace to this album.
Let's just accept that there will never be another Pinkerton. Ok? Got it?
Good. Now enjoy this.
Highlights: afore mentioned Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori /
California Kids / Jacked Up
Amen & Goodbye
Yeasayer
Tiger Rating: 5.0 / 10
Leftfield Indie
If half the indie fanbase of the world were waiting for Weezer to return to Pinkerton, then the other half (or maybe a small fraction) of indie fans were holding their breaths in hope of Yeasayer returning to their Odd Blood glory. That, sadly, is not the case on Amen & Goodbye.
Lead single Silly Me is as good as we've ever heard them. It's basically Chris Keating being self depracating over a jangly bit of guitar pop weirdness that'll stick in your head for weeks.
Unfortunately the rest of the album does not follow suit. Three pointless filler tracks aside, Prophecy Gun feels as pointless as a filler track, Divine Simulacrum is the sultry sequel to Ambling Alp (or a boring b-side maybe) and Uma is a tender but forgettable sci-fi ballad to someone called Uma, apparently. I desperately wanted this to be great but it just isn't.
Highlights: Silly Me / Dead Sea Scrolls / Cold Night (great track)
Mind of Mine
Zayn
Tiger Rating: 5.0 / 10
Urban Pop
Yes I'm secure and mature enough to review this album.
And, in truth, it's really rather good. Yes that might be surprising, but credit where credit is due.
Of course credit here must go mostly to the (multiple) producers, songwriters and musical directors, but they have done a decent job.
Known (to me at least) as the moody dark one from insufferably bouyant boybanders One Direction, he always looked like he would go edgy if he was alone. He kind of has. It's a very polished edge.
His vocals are, unsurprisingly, prisitine here. He pulls out a surprising and very welcome bit of Urdu on the intermission song Flower. It's beautiful, and if he had been as open handed with his approach to the other tracks, we'd have a very different animal to deal with here. As it is he seldomly strays from his whole "I have attitude and swagger and I'm sexy and I love me and you will too even when I'm drunk" thing. It gets extremely tedious after just ten tracks. He never gets sincere, which is a shame.
It's not like he had a lack of inspiration for material.
What we have, in the end, is some super smooth and very palatable R & B. Zayn doesn't venture far out, but if this is his first album, it's a perfectably fine debut and perhaps he'll grow into a more interesting individual identity. I'm hoping.
Highlights: smutty lead single Pillow Talk (it's catchy as hell) / close-to-sincere Fool For You / electric pulsing Lucozade
WVS
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