ALBUM REVIEWS
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ALBUM REVIEWS |
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The Strange Death Of Liberal England
DROWN YOUR HEART AGAIN REPUBLIC OF MUSIC 13.9.10 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk
“I cross the road with my eyes closed / to see if anyone takes my hand.” The Strange Death Of Liberal England (love the name, lads) have a vision of a better world and they call for it through the album. It’s a carefully constructed tower of layers of instruments – a millefeuille of sound. Adding in an orchestra to supply strings, horns and drums brings a huge force to the sound, which seems to be compressed too but that just adds to the Arcade Fire comparisons. With that caveat, it’s a winner, an ambitious, pretentious, successful vision of big noise, big thoughts. It really does have the epic sweep of Arcade Fire, especially on the single, Rising Sea, which has layers miles deep. The sound might be short-handed to Arcade Fire sing the works of Grammatics. They can step it up, too – Like A Curtain Falling pounds and races like a rushing heart. Its clearly serious music but viscerally affecting – whether it is the sense of rising excitement or the growth into climaxes of sound. A typical pattern is the closing tritych: Come On You Young Philosophers speeds along, Yellow Flowers is thoughtful and gentle, Dog Barking At The Moon is a lighter-waving anthem. This is one for repeat play, a perfect example of indie meets God Speed!-type psychedelia. “Don’t need daylight to navigate / what I feel inside”, they sing in Shadows and the album proves it true – you can think, feel, emote with sustained intelligence, concentration and energy. www.tsdole.co.uk |
