300 Not Out,and Just Settling In

Starring

Brian Bilston and the Catenary Wires, Butler, Blake and Grant, Miki Berenyi Trio, Oracle Sisters, Saint Etienne, Tales of Moon, Tindersticks, Vegyn

The Front Runners

Sounds Made By Humans : Brian Bilston and the Catenary Wires

The Catenary Wires grew out of the 80s indie scene of Heavenly Records and bands like Talulah Gosh. Brian Bilston is the poet laureate of the beta male and the hopes and disappointments of everyday life. Together they’ve set his poems to their indie sounds and the result is a delight.

This is the first album I’ve listened to where to quote the lyrics would require an accompanying spoiler alert. The titles give a taste of the mindset you’ll find in the songs though. They include ‘Alexa, What Is There To Know About Love?’, ‘31 Rules For Midlife Rebellion’ and ‘Thou Shalt Not Commit Adulting’.

The songs are a look back from late middle age (Sorry Brian!) to the feelings of the younger you and the disappointments that linger. They slot into the niche that allows you to explore the gap between hopes and reality. They’ll make you smile, and they will bring you up sharp at the unexpected sadness of a song such as ‘She’d Dance’. There’s joy too in the presence of unexpected, unsought ordinary pleasures that mean more than they appear, described best in ‘Out of the Rain’.

It’s quickly apparent that, independently as words and music both elements work remarkably well. The question is, how do they work together as songs?  You’ll love them. Brian Bilston may not be a natural singer, but spoken word pieces are on a roll in today’s pop world. The Catenary Wires also duet on some of the tracks, ‘Every Song On The Radio Reminds Me Of You’ being one excellent example. For my mid sixties ears there were just a couple of times when it was a struggle to hear the words above the music. (I can’t believe I’ve just typed that. I’ve finally become my father.) Make the effort to overcome that. It’s more than worth it.

If you’re coming at this from the musical end, then your touchstones will be the aforementioned 80s indie and someone like The Magnetic Fields. If you’re coming to the album through Bilston’s poetry you’ll know that he’s a unique voice.

This is an album that confirms Brian Bilston as a poet everyone should know and treasure. It’s also an album that will make you impatient for a new album from the Catenary Wires.

Taster Track : Any of them, but try ‘Every Song On The Radio Reminds Me Of You’ first.

Tripla : Miki Berenyi Trio

There’s something a little special going on in this set from The Miki Berenyi Trio that combines her musical and personal heritage into a dazzling display of city magic.

First, to the worriers out there, they may be named like a jazz outfit, but this is an indie pop / rock album through and through. Miki Berenyi was a founding member of Lush, who transitioned successfully from 4AD shoegaze to the shrewd, satirical pop of the Britpop era. She’s also of Japanese / Hungarian descent with a London upbringing and, although the influences don’t drown the music, I suspect they have a role to play in creating something that sounds different in a very good way.

There are certainly shoegaze elements in the mix. The songs have a dense, layered sound wrapped in a cloudy texture. They also have the musical and vocal trappings that steer away from that, for example the strings and ‘la la la’ chorus of ‘Kinch’ and the great double chorus of ‘8th Deadly Sin’. 

Oliver Cherer’s bass is what good bass should be - fundamental to driving the songs, without ever truly taking centre stage. He nails a Massive Attack groove (based on ‘Safe From Harm’?) on ‘Gango, and pins down a thumping disco night club rhythm on ‘Manu’.

I love Berenyi’s vocals. They’re enticing and a little other worldy. They’ve really worked on getting the sound just right. There are so many moments when you think “Where did that come from”. There are sounds that spit, crackle and twist as far as they can while still adding to the music. And that’s just in the opening to ‘A Different Girl’. ‘Ubique’ builds and throbs its way to a very satisfying climax, uniting everything that is good about this album.

This is an album that has you feeling you’re in good hands cruising through a pulsing, unfamiliar city at night with music and people spilling into the neon lit streets around you.

The Miki Berenyi Trio give us intelligent, imaginative rock you can move to. Whatever next?

Taster Track : Ubique

Divinations : Oracle Sisters

Oracle Sisters were new to me so I wasn’t prepared for the delights to be found in this excellent set of melodic, retro pop songs.

Some of the best pop around at the moment comes from France and its near neighbours.  Oracle Sisters leave you in no doubt from the opening track ‘Riverside’ that they’ve dived into the pool marked chilled, stylish, sophisticated pop without losing sight of the elements that make such songs truly great. ‘Riverside’ takes its time with its gentle, slightly cosmic rock. ‘Alouette’ - not the children’s school assembly song -  marks out the sisters as quietly in thrall to melody and with a feeling for pop music from the past.

It’s a surprising album and not just because one of them is male and there’s not a sibling in sight. It’s surprising because it is so unexpected. Although sounding nothing like the Scissor Sisters debut, and certainly looking nothing like their image, they trigger the same happy appreciation in these ears that someone, somewhere is still dedicated to keeping the flame of pure, intelligent pop alive. It helps too that the band are so obviously absorbed by the contentment this music brings. 

All the elements have been heard before, but no one of them is allowed to predominate. That doesn’t matter. ‘Shotguns’ and ‘Rodeo’ for example benefit from a light dusting of country, folk and Americana but you wouldn’t describe them as country, folk or Americana songs.

I’m convinced that, if they chose to, Oracle Sisters could make a blinding Christmas album. They have a sound that welcomes people in and brings them together. ‘Talk Is Cheap’ is typical of their songs, caressing you with a simple melody that sticks but is casually laid out. There’s an indie pop familiarity to ‘Banshee’ which tinkle and sparkles brightly.

All eleven songs are gems. Any one of them would make an album worth hearing. ‘Divinations’ came out on Valentine’s Day. It’s an album you would be happy to fall in love with, full of roses stripped of their thorns and replaced with moments of intoxicating pleasures.

Taster Track : Riverside

The Meaning EP : Tales of Moon

Hot on the heels of one French gem (see Oracle Sisters above) comes another. Tales of Moon are three passionate.artists from the French indie scene: Thierry Haliniak, Maud Platiau-Bourret and Olivier Boutry. They’re too modest to describe themselves as a supergroup, but they’ve certainly made a super record.

Ever since the UK took the decision to leave the EU I’ve been susceptible to music that reminds me of how great some of the music on the continent can be and twists the skewer another few degrees to resurrect the sense of Brexit’s loss once more. The French, of course, have a word for the feeling that does it justice. Tristesse.

This EP is full of it, the exquisite melancholy that somehow warms and reduces you to choked back sobs at the same time. ‘Shadows’ is the track that nails the feeling. ‘The Meaning’, meanwhile, is the epitome of atmospheric synth pop. It works beautifully as a duet too. Don’t feel that you’ll be allowed to wallow in unhappy feelings for too long though. The energy infused ’No More Afraid’ and ‘Bounded Hearts’ register their gift for memorable melodies.

Tales of Moon sit at the sweet spot where Tears for Fears, the Depeche Mode of the early songs following Vince Clarke’s departure and Nation of Language intersect.

This is unlikely to appeal to the person who hunts out the nearest McDonald’s and Irish pub when they arrive in France. It will appeal to those who treasure the good in different cultures. This feels like the early days of something very good indeed.

(And if you’d like to buy it, I asked Olivier Boutry of the band where you could get it, and he replied : “People can listen and buy a digital copy or a CD on the Bandcamp of Too Good To Be true label :

https://toogoodtobetruerecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-meaning-ep 

You know it would help to build a new entente cordiale!)

Taster Track : The Meaning

Blue Moon Safari : Vegyn

Vegyn has covered Air’s Moon Safari in full. It’s a risk that pays off handsomely.

Why is it a risk? The original ‘Moon Safari’ came out 25 years ago and quickly established itself as a classic, whether you enjoyed it for heralding a new era of chilled electronica, or you saw it as the ideal soundtrack for dinner parties. In 2000 the chances were that if you only bought one album a year, this was probably it. So Vegyn’s choice to cover this is brave. Either people will hate it for messing with something they regard as unimprovable or it will remind them it’s great album  and simply dig it out and play it again. 

If it works, it’s a risk worth taking. Petr Alesander transformed Ride’s ‘This Is Not A Safe Place’ into something nu classical. Rosie Carney’s cover of Radiohead’s ‘The Bends’ is a revelation, exposing the simplicity of the core songs and simultaneously highlighting the skill that Radiohead brought to the original. 

The very good news is that Vegyn has managed to achieve something like both. Air themselves have proclaimed his treatment as a reinvention of the original. I wouldn’t go that far but it’s a very good remix album that anchors one foot in the originals camp.

Vegyn has arranged things so that it’s as if the songs left home, grew up and returned after a  few years. You can be very pleased with how they have turned out. Like a tired vintage car rediscovered in a dusty garage, they have been given a loving polish in the Repair Shop, a fresh coat of paint, and a number of delicate improvements.

This is so much better than those acts that impose a contrasting approach on a classic album irrespective of the fit. Some - not all - of those reworkings of pop songs with an orchestra are simply horrible. Vegyn keeps the original trademark touches that were so successful such as the yacht rock sax on ‘Ce Matin-La’. ‘All I Need’ delivers the beauty of the original with grace and style. It’s even more chilled. Some of the tracks you may have overlooked in all the riches of the original album stand up well now including ‘New Star In The Sky.’ ‘Kelly Watch The Stars’ is now so French, you could be holidaying there.  ‘Sexy Boy’ is a less comfortable updating. The pop is just as good, but there are elements introduced that clash as if it’s a version brought from the future and kept in check by guards wielding musical tazers.

This is a success on all counts. It reinstates a classic, over familiar album to 5* status and is also a 5* restoration piece. I love it.

Taster Track : Difficult to choose, but ‘New Star In The Sky’ as it had slipped from my memory.

The Chasing Pack

Butler Blake and Grant : Butler Blake & Grant

Three indie stalwarts convene as one unit to make a surprisingly traditional album that’s reflective, stripped back and full of harmony in all senses of the word. It’s all the more welcome for that.

Bernard Butler (Suede mainstay for their glory years), Norman Blake (still going strong with the wonderful Teenage Fanclub) and James Grant (ex Love and Money and some excellent solo albums). They’re all men of a certain age who have been part of indie royalty for nearly 40 years. As it turns out, they've become friends through music too. You could call them pedigree chums!

All of that matters because this album is full of their shared understanding and togetherness. They’ve built their reputations and escaped from corporate demands. Now they want you to hear what they have and want to share with you. They’re a band of brothers. You can hear that everywhere, particularly on the instrumental ‘Rosus Posus’. There’s no sense of ego, no need to fight for centre stage. Butler has written most of the songs, Blake has a production credit. And when Grant’s gorgeous baritone appears on ‘’One and One is Two’ you realise how much you’ve missed it while you’ve been away.

This is a comforting album, the kind that provides a momentary respite in a no frills crofter’s cottage when there is a need to make sense of the storm raging outside. It’s a raw scraped sound even when the strings are added. ‘Seemed She Always Knew’ highlights the way that the music is stripped back to basics and purity. The songs are given necessary sweetness through the harmonies which are exceptional throughout and carry a natural, unforced air.

The prevailing tone is of weary regret. It’s husky, personal and yes, a little wrinkled and grey. That’s not dismissive. For me it’s a big part of the attraction, a fitting accompaniment to the reflections in the lyrics. It’s traditional songwriting and, importantly, sincere and authentic, and it ends on a note of hopeful optimism with ‘There’s Always Something You Can Change’.

This has the feel of an album the trio wanted to make, a work of love. We can be grateful for that.

Taster Track : One and One is Two

The Night : Saint Etienne

With this album, Saint Etienne demonstrate once again that their reach extends far beyond pure pop and into the deeply ambient universe.

Saint Etienne are one of our greatest pop bands. But, fair warning - if you’re coming to this hoping for another ‘He’s On The Phone’, ‘Bad Photographer’ or ‘You’re In A Bad Way’ you’re likely to find this challenging and disappointing. If you’re open to the potential of music and sound to create moods and tones, you’ll find much here to hold your attention and enjoy.

In the past Saint Etienne have, in various ways, shown that music makes the world go round. On this album they capture the sound of it happening. It’s an invitation to pop’s students to follow in Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs’ steps.

The feel they’ve created is of a hypnotic trance. It’s introduced by the city ambience of ‘Settle In’ and it gently brings you back to reality in ‘Alone Together’. It’s psychotherapy in a musical setting. Here, it’s moments and insights that matter, not songs.

Ambient it may be, but it’s an ambience that is as carefully composed as their greatest pop songs. Once it gets going, you feel the ambience as something internal rather than something drawn from the world outside. ‘Through The Doors’ floats by and it’s not the only one. The unity of this album is a key strength. You should listen to it as one piece, leisurely fading in and out.

Their magpie tendencies have always been evident in their lifting of snippets from one past scene to another. Here though it’s sounds rather than styles. As ambient music goes this is excellent. The playground sounds on ‘When We Were Young’ are excellently pitched, flicking the switch that takes you back to nostalgia for childhood.

‘Half Light’ reassures us that Sarah Cracknell’s vocals are still gorgeous. She’s the hook that pulls together everything around her. The lyrics (or maybe they’re simply words) are quietly poetic. The saxophone on ‘Gold’ is as thoughtful as it is unexpected. The classical feel to ‘Preflyte’ follows in a long list of examples of how they’ve pushed their musical boundaries throughout their career.

Saint Etienne continue to surprise and impress. There’s much to discover if you’re prepared to join them in their adventures.

Taster Track : The Nightingale

Soft Tissue : Tindersticks

Tindersticks 14th album is full of slow building, creeping gorgeousness. It’s demanding of your time, but generous in its rewards.

This is an album set firmly in Graham Greene territory. It’s an exploration of the soul, and a justification of actions taken in an alien culture probably deep in the heart of South America. It’s cinematic in the way it paints a picture, filling in the frame and details at a steady, unhurried pace and using dark, pastel colours.

There’s no one better at building in layers, as ‘Always A Stranger’ ably demonstrates. An anticipatory bass line, a squeakily strummed guitar, a slightly exotic synth motif take their sweet time to establish themselves before Stuart A Staples’ vocals join the mix. An electric guitar arrives followed by elegant strings and down to earth brass. Those elements recede like the tide and will return with the same inevitability. It’s wonderful stuff.

Staples’ baritone vocals are Tindersticks’ defining feature. ‘Falling, The Light’ which can be fairly described as a lullaby, shows them to be simultaneously warm if, let’s be honest, a little creepy.  Their customary nighttime tones are present too, flecked with jazz and funk rhythms.

Together they're stunningly effective, drawing you into a world that is not necessarily happy or safe, but a troubling and threatening one from which some respite is urgently needed. ‘Don’t Walk, Run’ has the most addictively hypnotic bass line and a quietly infectious louche, clapping beat. On ‘Turned My Back’ the gospelly, African like choir sound as if they are celebrating the wrong decision. In some ways that sums up Tindersticks to a tee.

This is an album that shows Tindersticks for what they are - mastercraftsmen in the art of substantial and immensely satisfying music. It’s also music for a world in which there is time to simply listen.

Taster Track : Always A Stranger

As ever this week's Taster Track playlists can be accessed at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/42qDXrw3nLMlCSg45kCnRy?si=4499207642034207 or via the Spotify link on the Home Page.

The link to the Youtube playlist is https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwV-OogHy7EjHZr5_M3m0Zn5LEu_F3fMm&si=OhQF-ZPaBjUn4VMT