The Real Tuesday Weld have once again provided a soundtrack to a Glen Duncan novel (a soundtrack and not the soundtrack, and putting aside the book for a moment, The Last Werewolf works perfectly well on its own as a coherent pop record.) Having attended Duncan’s reading for The Last Werewolf at King’s Place in June, the book promises much. I, Lucifer, the last Glen Duncan novel The Real Tuesday Weld provided a musical companion for, is excellent. What I love about Duncan’s writing is how beautifully he evokes, no matter what the subject matter, just how wonderful it is to be human, reveling in all the little sensations that sadly become obscured, overlooked, nearly forgotten after we’ve been doing it awhile. And dancing through the light of those feelings is just what I love about The Real Tuesday Weld’s music as well.
First song proper, “Wolfman”, is a distorted, harmonica-led stomper, sounding as if an early 1900s blues band were digging in with such furious intent that their instruments were transported a century into the future. Elegant little interludes outlining the book – “The Lupine Waltz”, “Time Of The Month”, “What You Are”, etc. – punctuate the album, adding to its more electronic feel than previous RTW efforts. And of course ever present is that lovely vintage-tinged pop that The Real Tuesday Weld do so well – “(I Always Kill) The Things I Love”, “The Ghosts”, “The Hunt”, and the darkly sparkling duet with Piney Gir, “Me And Mr. Wolf” (free download here). “Come Around” is worthy of note as a lazy slice of sunshine through a grey afternoon. But two magnificent gems really make the album.
There are few songs that actually manage to pull if off (to me, Pulp’s “Glory Days” is the prime example), to synthesize all of life’s seemingly conflicting components – ecstatic love and soulnumbing dejection, the wonder of being alive and the despair of also being so, the joy of hope and disappointment too bitter, along with every other possible feeling, realizing and transcending them in one huge triumphant YES! With such force behind it feeling like it could last forever. The Real Tuesday Weld have given us (for it is always a gift) their contribution to this elite canon with “You’re Gonna Live”.
“Tear Us Apart” is the other highlight of the record. Its ascending synth melody and overall feel more than a little reminiscent of Lifestyle’s classic “Don’t Believe In Heaven”. Beautiful, aching, spinning under stars and streetlights, drunk on drink but drunker on all the possibilities of how love can go. Check out Alex De Campi’s wonderful video:
Though worth it for these last two songs alone, repeated listenings are making the whole more and more one of my favourite albums of the year.
[Rating: 4]
