Following on from last year’s rather fine These Resurrections EP, Edinburgh-based Steve Adey delivers his sophomore album. Six years since his debut All Things Real, this beautiful collection of work has been worth the wait.
The outstanding cut from the EP ‘Just Wait Til I Get You Home’ reappears here, but there’s an entire album of beautiful songs, like his cover of Alasdair Roberts’ ‘Farewell Sorrow’ and ‘Laughing’ which hang together most perfectly. What Steve plugs into is a particuarly scottish sense of melancholia (see also: eagleowl, Mogwai and The Blue Nile, amongst others) that – to paraphrase Wilco -is trying to break your heart, and does it in the most beautiful way.
While some records can be overwhelming and ultimately isolating in their melancholy (see the most recent album from Breathless) this is one that connects with the listener right from the off. Yes, you may want to cry on hearing this (and if it doesn’t have that effect, your humanity should surely be called into question), but you’ll find it a beautiful experience.
[Rating:4.5]
The Tower Of Silence is released on November 26 on Grand Harmonium.
