Bloody hell, lighten up a bit will you?
When ‘Blue Faces‘ introduces this, Archive‘s tenth (yes tenth) album, it sounds like Thom Yorke has heavily OD’ed on downers, to the extent that the angelic harmonies that complement the instrumentation towards the end of the song feel like a near death experience. Things spiral further into the depths of despair with the nightmarish ‘Driving In Nails‘, Darius Keeler perhaps having dreamt of the unsettling vision of his own crucifixion. Or perhaps not.Whatever, it’s certainly akin to a collection of night visions as soundtracked by Tool and produced by Gary Numan. But even darker than that, if you can imagine such a thing without getting the frostiest of chills. Indeed, the overwhelmingly joyous half hymn gospel of The False Foundation‘s closing track, ‘The Weight Of The World‘, and its predecessor ‘Stay Tribal‘ – a barely two minute romp that lies somewhere between LCD Soundsystem and The Fall – seem totally at odds with everything else the album represents. But even THAT wallows back into its own quiet, reflective dejection come last orders.
Ok, let’s be honest, Archive have never exactly been a party band anyway, I accept that, but despite having already previously unleashed their misery on us with the likes of ‘Still‘, or their pent up fury on the charmingly titled ‘Fuck U‘ (more than a decade old, that little gem, believe it or not), I can’t ever remember them going quite this deep before. It’s a far cry from anything else they’ve ever done, and that is something that deserves an awful lot of credit. The only note of caution I would make is “don’t play this to anybody who suffers from depression. It might just tip them over the edge”.
That said, if you listen to The False Foundation all the way through, the truth is that there probably is enough light and shade provided to restore parity to anyone teetering on the brink. The title track, after all, is like an express train, rattling on to its destination to a backdrop of frantic eighties synthpop and a gritty intensity that calls to mind the most thrilling work of Nine Inch Nails. It’s true, too, that the downbeat tunes that make up the bulk of this long player hold a kind of seductive beauty in their solemnity. ‘A Thousand Thoughts‘, for example, takes that feeling of sleepy seclusion that Meilyr Jones encapsulated so wonderfully on ‘Rain In Rome‘ earlier this year, and extends it to a five and a half minute ode to the benefits of total solitude. Or at least that’s how it feels.
Actually, you know what? Repeated listens suggest that first impressions of woe and self pity were somewhat wide of the mark. The more you listen, you realise that the likes of ‘Sell Out‘ are things of veiled majesty and reveal themselves to you slowly and tenderly, the latter not being a million miles away from the kind of splendour you would normally associate with The National.
So scratch that, what I said earlier about not playing it to someone who suffers from depression. Play it to them. Play it to them over and over again. It might just be the therapy they need.
The False Foundation is out now on Dangervisit.
