Formed in Stillwater, Oklahoma, this quintent comprises four Americans and one Yorkshireman, and their previous LP F, Monday, Orange, February, Venus, Lunatic, 1 or 13 is one of the best records of the 21st century thus far, though it was rather unfortunately released over here as a highly compacted EP. So, no pressure on this their ‘difficult’ second album.
Opening track Beard sets the stall out in quite an interesting way, it’s a dense, foggy, squall of mis-shapen and fuzzy guitars, barely audible vocals and gurgling peculiar prog-rock, closer in sound to their wall-of-sound live shows than the chirpy, incessant nature of their debut. Second track Jill & Jack (A Duet) takes those chundering guitars and allies them to a rock-and-roll drumline, the squeaky vocals peek their head out a little further, but the song itself is still obtuse and mysterious, almost cautious to emerge, tempting the listener closer rather than outwardly exposing itself.
This sentiment is reflected further in the teasing, flirty coo of Feels Good To Wear, a lingering note on the keys a little beacon of light, it’s closer to the arch theatricality of Connan Mockasin, jazzy and slinky, drums helicopter in the background and the song has the spooky pop sensibility of The Cure‘s Lovecats. There’s a regal operatic style to the opening We Shall Wish (Use Your Adult Voice) that erupts into a clattering, exuberant parade of voices, a flailing explosion of colour that exhibits the vocal progression made by the band since the last record, the howling somewhere between Rufus Wainwright and Ian McCulloch.
The sinister church organ and choir of voices that kick off You For Leaving Me are the perfect doormat for the tracks deliciously swaggering guitars and the opening lyric, ‘You should’ve been good to me.’ It’s a perfectly sneered tune, a toe-tapping rhythm that ebbs and flows magnificently into twirling exorcisms of energy. It gives the record the reckless abandon of emancipation that puts the darker, sludgier earlier tracks into a quagmire that could posit this album as one of the year’s finest ‘post break-up’ records. Tog rides the same horse, its drums similarly and seemingly shaking off the shackles, and the tracks sneezes of ‘Hey!’ are spiky teases of inhibitions freed.
Dolphins & Unicorns seems as close as Colourmusic might get to a disco tune, a juddering ball of funk with flamenco handclaps and ghost train backing vocals, the drums nudging breakbeats. There’s something a little Joy Division to the shadowy dance of Pororoca, peculiar strings fluttering and the bassline a bubbling, sci-fi stammer, the vocals part frenzied, breathy plea and then mysterious hollering sloshing around, apt for a track named after a popular surfing wave and a word that translates as ‘great destructive noise.’
After a microscopic ambient gurgle called The Beast With Two Backs, there’s the sweaty, erratic, distracted opening to The Little Death (In Five Parts), beginning as a squelchy, mucky bounce into a skittering freefall that slows into a lumbering, cocksure guitar riff against splashy drumming and fuzzy atmospherics. Cooing voices appear out of the wreckage, joined by a looping piano and cautiously pulsing bass, an ominous and sombre close to the record’s most ambitious track.
Fold/Unfold eeks its way into the quiet, creaking back and forth like a wooden ship thrust into space. Mono seems about to head in the same lo-fi direction, its strings grand but subdued, though once the guitars come in it morphs eagerly into a spine-tingling ascent, a little Super Furry Animals-like in its drily delivered verses, balancing, as its guitars surge, on erupting into something epic, but cheekily denying the listener the satisfaction, instead the seaside sound of Whitby Harbour pipe up, literally, in so much as its the gentle and relaxing sound of sea against shore, comforting splashes and slaps.
The LP closes with Yes!, almost a theme tune for the band, having cropped up on their debut EP, their debut LP, the UK EP and now here, it’s undoubtedly a great track, but feels a little like a concession to an industry hungry for ‘singles’, as it seems out of step with this LP’s attitude as a whole, and that is the defining thing about this album in comparison to its predecessor, it feels very much a different beast and for those expecting more of the same then this will indeed be a ‘difficult’ second album, but more so on behalf of the listener. Whilst not as immediate as their previous album this is a dense, multi-faceted and absorbing listen that finds the tracks tackling more adventurous and avant garde territory to previous work. It’s not wholly successful, some tracks finding it had to feel distinctive, others almost cruel in their desire to confound, but this is a fascinating and thrilling listen from one of the most interesting bands in contemporary music.
[Rating:4]
