Album review: GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

Highlights: Mladic, We Drift Like Worried Fire

I believe that writing a book about this album would be a lot easier than trying to come up with a reasonable review. There’s just so much happening here – and yet its drony, repetitive textures might swish past you without leaving any serious impression. It’s pretty – yet never overwhelmingly so, and quite often self-consciously chaotic. It’s expansive and it’s monumental – and yet it’s very calm, quiet, almost unpretentious. Let’s be honest: compared to stuff like The Seer, Allelujah! is tame, smug noodling.

While I have always had a great deal of respect for Godspeed You! Black Emperor, there has never been any passionate love. So I’ll have to admit that I didn’t particularly miss them these ten long years. And even if I did, there was always a good chance to return to, say, Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven! (awful titles, guys! – like The Flaming Lips with no acid wit), and discover a few new twists, touches and tricks previously overlooked.

Still, there’s no question that it’s good to have them back. ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! is just what you would expect from the band. Drony, dense, minimalist (in its broadest, loosest sense), well-honed and thought to death. Layers and layers of slow-burning, but intense instrumentation and meticulous musical ideas (ten years is ten years). The two shorts (6-plus and 8-plus minutes each) are lovely, ambient and uneventful, but there’s no denying the charming, beguiling monstrosity of the two centerpieces, “Mladic” and “We Drift Like Worried Fire”. Both are 20 minutes long and both have all one could need from a Godspeed You! song. Lots of brilliant little subtleties, lots of overpowering violin crescendos and delightful guitar arpeggios.  

‘Allelujah! is a worthy come-back, no doubt. It will work equally well both for fans and for newcomers. As for me, I choose to stick to my line: I appreciate this album, I even admire it. I just don’t worship it - which, I'm afraid, is exactly what they ask of you.

7/10  

SONG OF THE WEEK #78: Tom Waits - "Falling Down"

An absolute classic, of course, this studio recording was inexplicably released as part of the live album called Big Time (1988). I never cared that much for the actual live performances (they are good though), but "Falling Down" is one of my all-time favourites from Waits. Anguished, touching, waltzy, heart-wrenching belter. You know he can do those. 

Album review: TIM BURGESS - Oh No I Love You

Highlights: White, The Doors Of Then, The Great Outdoors Bitches, A Gain

There’s no question that Kurt Wagner is all over this thing. In fact, Oh No I Love You (nice title, by the way) is like a more pop-oriented version of Lambchop’s latest, Mr. M. A very refined, classy-sounding record drenched in orchestration and exquisite melancholy. Pop music for snobs.

Tim Burgess used to be in the fairly run-of-the-mill Britpop band called The Chameleons (capable but never particularly impressive). His solo career, though (this is his second album), offers something different: it is more about vibes and mood and things like that. Still, the songs are there, and pop confections like the single “White” or “The Great Outdoors Bitches” are sublime. The few country-esque numbers (“The Graduate” and “Anytime Minutes”) are fairly unexceptional and some of the more atmospheric material might sound beguiling but still rather underwhelming (“A Case For Vinyl”). However, it’s impossible to deny the elegant, funereal charms of the 6-plus minute “A Gain” that brings this album to a very calm, tortured, fitting end.

Like it or not, this is impeccable stuff. Impeccably composed, impeccably produced. Oh No I Love You is the sort of album I could recommend to fans of classical music who wish to try pop. As well as to the rest of you.

7/10

Album review: A.C. NEWMAN - Shut Down The Streets

Highlights: I’m Not Talking, Encyclopedia Of Classic Takedowns, There’s Money In New Wave, Hostages, They Should Have Shut Down The Streets

Shut Down The Streets is A.C. Newman’s own, solo version of Challengers. A quieter, mellower, more understated affair that might seem like a terrible letdown for those with poor attention span. But same as The New Pornographers’ fourth album, Shut Down The Streets never really stops giving away its undeniable melodic charms (Newman is one of the best songwriters in business) slowly and reluctantly.

All very recognizable though: thoughtful vocal melodies, Neko Case, inventive arrangements, tasteful production. And, of course, a number of pop masterpieces too boot. Speaking of which, nothing here shines as brightly as the album’s opener, “I’m Not Talking” that is this year’s most perfect song. From the heartfelt acoustic rhythm to that deceptively simple, hair-raisingly brilliant melody to the effective clarinet riff, it’s one of A.C. Newman’s best songs ever (and that includes his New Pornographers contributions). The ones that come closest to it are the masterfully titled ballad “There’s Money In New Wave”, the classic, flute-augmented pop of “Hostages” (pay attention to the arrangements) and the closing moody charmer, “They Should Have Shut Down The Streets” which has that truly magical, mesmerizing reticence.

No weak tracks here (as further listens prove), but there’s no question that lovely, unassuming things like “The Troubadour” are prime A.C. Newman filler. Still, even those offer more musical and instrumental ideas than most indie artists can dream of.

In the end, you do get the feeling that at some points Newman was going for refinement rather than good old catchiness. And still Shut Down The Streets is a gorgeous, slow-burning wonder (no pun intended). I might prefer Get Guilty overall, but this is an unmissable treat.

8/10

SONG OF THE WEEK #77: The Smiths - "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others"

Whether this jangly classic is the best song of The Smiths or not is a debatable issue, but there's no question that lyrically it is Morrissey's greatest triumph. Off The Queen Is Dead (1986), of course.