State Hospital: Frightened Rabbit

The biggest bit of news to drop in casa EbM in last few months was that old favourites Frightened Rabbit would be releasing a new LP in 2013. That was good news because as creators of one of the best albums of the last half-decade, FR LPs are always worth paying attention to, but also because there would inevitably be a host of EPs and singles released to build up anticipation. And as a FR fanboy-completist, I’m willing to gobble all of these up with gusto.

We last had a FR EP back in November ’11, and whether any of the tracks from there will be on the new LP we can only speculate. What is known, however, is that the title track from State Hospital will make it on to the final album. Being the first song to emerge from the album’s writing session, frontman Scott has said it “set the tone” for the rest of the record. If that’s the case then fans of FR’s old stuff (which definitely includes me) are in for a treat. But it’s not a continuation of the upward trend in production values that we’ve seen through their last three albums; as I said when the last EP came out, the band’s longtime producer Peter Katis (a man with one of the most impressive resumes of recent times) is no longer on the scene and the band are handling production duties themselves. Whatever the reason for this (it may be a ‘creative’ decision or a side-effect of the band’s switch from indie FatCat to major Atlantic) I think ultimately it’s a step in the right direction. The songs on this EP carry a rawness and edge that is recognizable from their early work but which had been all but ironed out following 2008’s Midnight Organ Fight.

Of the other songs on this release, Boxing Night is the standout, reminiscent of Cheap Gold and It’s Christmas So We’ll Stop, and is by all accounts an old song given a final polish before being laid to rest. The collaboration with Aiden Moffat (late of Arab Strap), Wedding Gloves, is a leftfield ‘weird’ one, but what binds all five tracks together is an uncommon quality and a spirit that so many bands with promising beginnings lose as their career progresses. Frightened Rabbit are evidently still going strong, and still ones to watch.

 

Inbetweens: Withered Hand

Moving on from all the 7″s that have been covered on these pages lately, here’s a 10″ EP from EbM favourites Withered Hand. While the last WH release – the Heart Heart 7″ that came out in Feb. – represented a new direction for Dan Wilson’s project, Inbetweens is more representative of Withered Hand’s general sound. What I’ve always loved about WH, and which was perhaps slightly lacking in Heart Heart, is his ability to take the generic setup of acoustic guitar and crackly voice and turn it into something ultimately rather esoteric. Aside from his distinctive voice, there’s nothing overtly groundbreaking in the aesthetics of WH’s recorded output, but it does serve as a fine canvas to perfectly showcase the quality of the songwriting; to the point where his  2009 LP has been slowly creeping to the top of my all-time favourite albums list.

The title track on Inbetweens might not be WH’s best work, but it is nevertheless very good indeed, and it’s been my experience that WH songs tend to be ‘growers’, so come back in six months and this track may be a firm favorite.  Where this EP gets interesting for me as a WH fan is the B-side, where some old songs are revisited. If you include Meursault’s cover, this is the fifth recorded version of Oldsmobile Car (which I know better as Red Candle Bulb) that I’ve heard, and up until now every version has had some flaw or quirk in it that renders it slightly less than a finished product. That might have been a dodgy drum machine or some ever dodgier backing vocals (“shooby-shooby”?!), but I’m pleased to report that this version gives the song the treatment it has so long deserved.

More controversial, in my eyes, is the final track, (it’s a) Wonderful Lie. Originally released as a Christmas song in 2007, the song was so good that Dan changed a verse to make it less season-specific and incorporated it into his live shows.  This is a recording of that version complete with fleshed-out instrumentation, and it is very, very good.  What makes it sit uneasily with me is that it’s not quite as good as the original festive version.  I’m willing to accept that this might be because I have a strong emotional attachment to the old version – I’ve listened to it countless hundreds of times in the fortnightly period in which it’s acceptable to listen to Christmas songs – but secretly I’m sure it’s because the older version actually is better.

All in all, this 10″ has much to recommend it, both to Withered Hand fanboy completists and casual admirers of really great music.  Go buy it!

Withered Hand – Inbetweens 

Withered Hand – (it’s a) Wonderful Lie (new version)

Withered Hand – It’s A Wonderful Lie (old version)

 

Sex: The 1975

Photo by Rosie Hardy

Another corker of a track from a band I’d never heard of until they landed in my inbox.  This is the sort of song I always wanted to be able to write when I was in school.  I was never this good, and I’m too old now to get away with this kind of thing, but I can still enjoy the energy and delivery that The 1975 inject into the whirling dervish of a single that is Sex.

The track stands up well enough on its own, but there’s something to be gained from watching the video – the singer has given himself the most ridiculous rock-star haircut.  Now, I know this doesn’t have anything to do with the music, and I’m guessing you don’t visit these pages for my Grazia-esque fashion insights, but is pertinent to the music, I assure you. If nothing else, it shows that this guy is committed to being a rock star; to have the nerve to do that to himself proves that the band is front-and-centre in his ambitions.  And that’s an essential part of this music; utter commitment, manic youthful energy.

Anyway, haircuts aside, this song is fantastic, and an exploration of their soundcloud page won’t go unrewarded either. The record is released by Vagrant on the 20th November, and is available for pre-order through iTunes (although there’s no sign of any physical release yet, which is a shame).

 

F3NC3 R⅓CORDS’ CHART RUSE: Withered Hand, Delifinger, Barbarossa

Back in February I posted about the Withered Hand record Heart Heart, which was the first release in a three-single subscription series run by Fence Records, called Chart Ruse. Each of the 7″ EPs included in the deal come in a fantastically well designed sleeve, with each one subtly altered for each band, and each consists of four tracks, one of which is a remix (*shudder*) and one of which is a vinyl only cut. The subscription has now run its course, and having already written about the WH record, I figure it’s only fair to give the other two bands a place on these illustrious pages as well.  The bands in question are Delifinger and Barbarossa, and I should confess that before signing up for this deal I’d never heard of either band before (well, I’d seen Delifinger open for WH and King Creosote at the start of the year, but was decidedly underwhelmed).

 

The Delifinger record, much like his live performance, was not quite as good as I’d hoped it would be.  All the ingredients seemed to suggest an interesting sonic palette and more than a little creativity, but Matthew Lacey – who’s project this is – comes across as far too earnest, and the songs themselves are just too slow.  That sounds like a dreadfully obtuse bit of criticism, but there just wasn’t enough going on to maintain my interest; if the songs had been faster it might have worked, or if they’d had more, well, hooks they might have been able to sustain the slow pace.  As a result, this single might appeal to those of a more morose aspect than myself, but as it stands the Escapes EP is a sincere and laudable effort, but not really my cup of tea.

The Barbarossa contribution covers much the same ground in terms of texture and approach, but where Delifinger doesn’t quite deliver, Barbarossa (again, it’s all the work of one man; this time it’s James Mathé) injects enough variety to keep things interesting. In fact, I think the real difference lies in the confidence of the performers; Butterfly Plague feels much more assured, much more decisive, much more confident.  The record is, overall, perhaps a little too delicate for me to find myself really loving it, but it’s still good enough for me to pop it on the turntable on a fairly regular basis.

All in all, despite my disparaging remarks, this has been a rewarding series, and while I may have been rather dismissive of some of the music, the fact that it’s a unified collection of 7″s that sit nicely together on my shelf – and because it came from Fence – means that I’ll most likely find myself returning to it before too long.  In the meantime, the next Fence series – this time called Buff Tracks – kicks of imminently, so now I’m waiting eagerly for that to arrive.

 

Barbarossa – Butterfly Plague 

Delifinger – Escapes

 

Eye To Eye: Emily And The Woods

If you ask me, Newton Faulkner suffered at the hands of his producer.  Sure, his songs might not be all that great, but he was a powerful live performer with charm and talent aplenty; on record, however, he merely comes across as Mr. Bland from Bland City.  I mention Faulkner here to highlight the delicate and mystical alchemy that goes into capturing a great live performer ‘on tape’ and how such a process can easily miss its mark.  My first exposure to Emily And The Woods – the nom de guerre of singer/songwriter Emily Wood – was the session she did for Location Music TV back in November, and while I’ve never seen her play live, this ‘live’ session (along with the many others she’s recorded for a whole host of people) shows an adept and assured solo performer.

So what, then, of her recordings? Fleshed out with a full line-up, the songs hold up remarkably well.  Perhaps that the extra instrumentation meshes so well with Emily’s hushed and delicate vocal stylings is the result of the band being something of a family affair – with a Benjamin Wood on electric guitar and a Patrick Wood handling acoustic guitar, bass and piano along with the production duties.  All in all the Woods production seems to be something of a self-made affair, with no visible signs of label support or any of the trappings of the industry at large.  The only people visibly backing her are OMG Music, a fledgling production company based in Surrey (who, ironically, represent a certain Mr. Faulkner) but despite the apparent lack of resources, her Eye To Eye EP sounds remarkably professional.  If I’m honest, this ‘professional’ sheen could be as much a curse as a blessing: the traditional word to use in these circumstances is ‘slick’, and that’s not a charge that sits well with the delightfully ramshackle performances that come across in her live videos.  That said, the only real flaw that I can detect in the record is the slightly overzealous percussion that’s been slapped all over Steal His Heart, which is a shame, as it’s my favourite song of hers.  But then my opinion of the song was forged watching the YouTube clip I’ve included above, so maybe I’m just predisposed to prefer a stripped back version.  I’ll pop a stream of the EP cut at the bottom of this post so you can make your own mind up.

The EP certainly seems to be going down well in the blogosphere, and it was only after a whole slew of favourable reviews over at Breaking More Waves that I finally got around to buying Eye To Eye (which can be found, along with a few other things, at her Big Cartel shop page).  It’s been a few months since the EP was launched, but Emily And The Woods are still releasing a steady stream of impressive performances through YouTube, and with the growing groundswell of blog-based support I’ll bet it won’t be long before they hit the big time.  This is one band wagon I’ll be proud to say I jumped on as soon as I was able.

Emily And The Woods – Steal His Heart

Emily And The Woods – Handwriting

 

Heart Heart: Withered Hand

I finally got round to seeing Withered Hand recently, and when asked by a friend to describe what it was like I must admit I struggled. After wrestling with expressions like ‘deliberately lo-fi’ and ‘artfully artless’ – which apply to the early recordings and not the live sound – the only thing I felt comfortable setting in stone was ‘game changer’.  As someone who attempts to write my own songs from time to time, every so often I come across tracks that as well as simply liking I actually wish I’d written myself.  Hearing these songs can either be an inspiration – causing me to stop the track before it’s finished and run off and try to write something of my own – or (and this is more often the case) herald a fit of despair and self-pity – ‘I’ll never write anything that good’ and so on and so forth… Listening to Withered Hand, however, makes me want to unlearn everything I think I know about songwriting and start all over from the beginning again.

I say this, of course, with reference to recording by Withered Hand (the nom de’guerre of singer/songwriter Dan Wilson) that I’ve had time to get to know fairly intimately: 2009’s Good News album, and the smattering of EPs and single mp3s I’ve been able to get my hands on.  This new record, the Heart Heart EP, comes courtesy of the Fence Collective‘s Chart Ruse subscription scheme (although it can still be bought separately), and will probably take a little while to grow on me.  The lead track, Heart Heart, is fast becoming a favourite even though on first listen it struck me as something of a departure from the usual WH sound (although there are distinct parallels with the Religious Songs EP version of New Dawn).  The rest of the tracks (not counting the vinyl-only King Creosote remix) are in more familiar territory but have yet to stamp their identity on my ears in the way many of WH’s older songs already have.

Whether they do or not, there’s no getting round the fact that this EP is – music aside – quite simple a lovely object to own. To those who question the value of music in physical form I recommend feasting your eyes on this exquisitely designed sleeve, with its die-cut hole and beautiful illustrations.

Withered Hand – Heart Heart [audio http://www.bearfacedrecords.com/EbMBlog_mp3s/WitheredHand/WitheredHand_HeartHeart.mp3]

And for those of you who are new to WH, here’s a couple of the ‘hits’:

 

Sticky Notes & Paper Scraps: Town Hall

When a video of a band covering Jimmy Eat World’s The Middle landed in my inbox a month or so ago, the first thing that struck me was that it was really, really slick.  It purported to be a ‘live’ session, but the production values for both the sound and the visuals were far above what one normally expects from a hitherto unknown band (Brooklyn-based indie-folk outfit Town Hall may have released their debut, Tour EP, at least a year ago, but I’d certainly never heard of them before).  The impressive video – and it’s equally impressive collection of microphones and instruments – makes more sense upon learning that the Tour EP made its way into the hands of the prodigiously talented (or at the very least prodigiously dedicated) people at Mason Jar Music.

This self-styled collective of creative types specialize in both video work and sound production, with instrumental arrangement being their speciality.  They’ve teamed up with Town Hall to re-record and re-release their EP, which is now called Sticky Notes & Paper Scraps and boasts the work of a deft and accomplished sonic touch.  I’m often disparaging of bands using covers to help break themselves into the mainstream, but perhaps I ought to re-evaluate my stance; in this instance the cover served as an effective gateway drug into a band with a genuinely beautiful aesthetic and some cracking songs to match it.

 

A Frightened Rabbit EP: Frightened Rabbit

Scott Hutchinson, frontman of Frightened Rabbit, seems to have developed a taste for duets.  The 7″ single for The Loneliness and the Scream featured a duet with Craig Finn from The Hold Steady (a quirky cover of Don’t Go Breaking My Heart), and there are two new ones on the band’s latest release, a 3-track EP called, imaginatively, A Frightened Rabbit EP.  Here Scott duets with Tracyanne Campbell – of Camera Obscura fame – and Scottish folk-mainstay Archie Fisher.

Being the over-eager FR fanboy that I am, I pre-ordered the limited edition of the 10″ vinyl release which means I get to enjoy the always-impressive artwork as well as having the special joy that comes from actually being able to hold a record in your hands.  But for those of you less impressed by the constraining world of atoms, you can get this EP for free (in exchange for nothing more than an email address) over at the FR website.

If you follow the link to the EP’s page you’ll also find a track-by-track explanation of the record written by Hutchinson himself, and it’s always interesting to hear someone talking about their creative process.  The downside of this approach (and I say this as an avid, nay obsessive, consumer of ‘extra features’, DVD commentaries and the like) is that it can demystify the act of creation, and – more importantly – forever affects the way you think about a song.  In much the same way that I can’t watch Luke Skywalker struggling across the icy wastes of Hoth without thinking about Irvin Kershner and the rest of the crew filming it from within the shelter of a hotel doorway, I now can’t hear Scottish Winds, the EP’s opener, without thinking about [spoiler alert!] the fact that it was written on a bus. Now whether or not this has any impact at all on ones enjoyment of a piece is something we could debate for hours, but thankfully the songs on this EP are of a high enough quality that it doesn’t really matter.  That’s not to say, however, that they are up to FR’s usual high standards.

Of the three songs, Fuck This Place is the only one that I imagine I’ll listen to with any regularity.  The duet with Campbell is a much more polished effort that the other two; Scottish Winds is nicely acerbic and vulgar but just sounds a little half-cocked to be a real FR classic, and Fisher’s vocals on The Work are just a little too arch for these ears.  As a treat for fans to keep interest up between albums, this EP serves its purpose admirably, but if you’re new to the band I’d strongly recommend that you seek out their earlier work first.  Production duties on this record were handled by the band themselves, which is always nice to see provided the band are actually any good at production.  FR can get the job done, for sure, but I can’t help but feel the lack of Peter Katis’ reassuringly steady hand at the tiller.  Katis brings out the best in the band and gives their records their distinctive sheen, so I certainly hope his influence will make a return for the band’s next full-length; a record which can’t come soon enough in my book.

Frightened Rabbit – Fuck This Place 

 

The Bastards, Volume One: Radical Face

For some reason I feel that I ought not to like this EP, but (as is so often the case) the deeper I dig, the more immersed in the record I become, and the better I like it.  In fact, this EP is astonishingly good; flying in the face of all my premonitions and instinctive reactions.

Running on autopilot, my mind flagged up what felt like a whole list of worries upon first approaching this record, yet when I came to focussing on what these reservations actually were, they proved to be elusive and ephemeral.  Receiving, as I do, such a large quantity of rubbish in my inbox every day, I like to think my spidey-sense is pretty well attuned to rubbish music, and as such my first impressions carry a lot of weight.  I know (or at least thought I knew) that a band name such as ‘Radical Face’ would inevitably herald some amateurish pub-rock that I’d regret ever having listened to.  The accompanying PR-gumph, while polite and honest and clearly well-intentioned, didn’t help much either: this EP, so I’m told, is a prelude to a full-length album that is to be the first in a series of records all built around the concept of a family tree.  Not a good sign, I thought to myself: this pub-rocker’s pretentious to boot.  Who does he think he is, Sufjan Stevens?!

It seems like an odd approach, I’ll concede, to begin what is overwhelmingly a positive review with a whole host of reasons why I didn’t think I’d like it, but there is method to my madness.  This small EP (only three tracks long) contains some simply stelar moments, but it doesn’t give it all away right at the start.  Conventional wisdom dictates that promo EPs such as this one put their best bits first; grab the listener! Draw them in! Hook them in the first 10 seconds! Radical Face (real name Ben Cooper), however, doesn’t do this.  Rather he has the courage to kick off with a song that is distinctly back-loaded, a track that holds on to all its aces until the closing moments.  It is so easy, these days, to dismiss a piece of music completely out of hand after having only heard a little part of it, and to dismiss this record is such a manner would be a tragedy.  I outline my reasons for expecting to dislike this release, dear reader, so that you might learn from my mistakes.  If you, too, feel my initial misgivings, I urge you to ignore them, and if you do so then you will be mightily rewarded.

There’s not really anything to dislike about this album – the aesthetic textures, the vocal timbre, the pacing, the charm, all of these elements are excellent – but for me the best aspect of these songs is the way they’re constantly surprising me.  I took to this record straight away, but I’m well aware that really liking something on first listen is not necessarily a sign that I’ll still like it after ten listens, or a hundred, so it was with a sceptical ear that I returned to the music, and it was this process of pseudo-forensic examination that foregrounded the ‘surprising’ element of this set of songs.  Literally every time I began to feel that I knew what a song was doing – every time I thought I’d ‘got’ it, so to speak – the song threw up a new element, a new hook, a new texture that re-engaged my fascination.  Even now, after a good couple of weeks of regular listening, I have yet to be bored when hearing these songs.  Obviously only time will tell if this sensation continues, and I find that very few records stay in heavy rotation after more than a month or so, but these three songs are nevertheless very strong indeed, and I have high hopes for the album that this release precedes.

You can download the whole EP for the cost of an e-mail address through a widget on the Radical Face website, but for those of you of lazy dispositions you can stream the whole thing below, and download one of the tracks.

Radical Face – All is Well (It’s Only Blood)

Radical Face – All is Well (Goodbye, Goodbye)

Radical Face – We’re On Our Way

 

Flash Floods & Wildfire: Toodar/The October Game

It’s a poor reviewer indeed who has too much to drink at a show (particularly in a venue where a simple Jameson’s will set you back the better part of a tenner: visitors to Old Street’s Favela Chic, you have been warned) but nevertheless I can’t be sure if it was overindulgence on my part, or under-rehearsal on the part of the bands involved that resulted in my impression of the track Flash Floods & Wildfire being something of a chaotic mess.  At this point I’m inclining toward the former option, as both the bands in question, The October Game, and EbM favourites Toodar were both in fine fettle individually, and the track in question – who’s release we were there to celebrate – turns out, on record, to be rather good indeed.  In fact, I’d probably go as far as to say it’s one of the best new songs I’ve heard this year thus far (an honour held by Toodar’s Ten Paces last year, in fact).

Flash Floods & Wildfire is the lead track from a split-EP by the two bands, which is available now from Scylla records, and is a co-written joint venture for the two bands.  It seems the split EP is a much maligned creature, but it’s a format I’m particularly fond of.  I guess it’s because I’m a sucker for an interesting cover, and the A/B comparison provided by most splits is always enough to pique my fascination (check out the Dropkick Murphys/Face to Face split for a fine example of the form at its best).  With the introduction of a collaborative track like this one, Toodar and The October Game are upping the ante even further.

Toodar have a new real EP out now too, so I’ll save my praise for them until I review that one properly, but I feel I ought to mention The October Game individually at least once.  Unlike their name suggests, they’re not an emo band from the states, and in fact sound very home grown indeed.  While their cover of Toodar’s Ten Paces is interesting as a re-imagining of a favourite song, there’s something about the TOG-only tracks that doesn’t quite sit well with me.  They aren’t bad songs by any means, but while they were relatively smooth when I saw them live, there’s something a little pedestrian – a little dated, even – about their music.  They’d probably have been huge five or ten years ago, but I can’t help but feel that the public appetite for their very MOR brand of alt. rock has perhaps waned somewhat of late.

Quibbles aside, this is a very assured, very well put together little split EP, with a good original from each band thrown in for good measure alongside the obligatory covers.  (Toodar’s is the excellent Jack in a Box; a song that previously made an appearance on the band’s White Elephant EP last year.  There it was eclipsed by the more instantly accessible Ten Paces and Toy, but here it’s given a little more room to shine).  I’ll certainly be talking about Toodar again in the next week or so, but I’m also going to keep an ear to the ground for The October Game, just incase.

Toodar/The October Game – Flash Floods & Wildfire [audio http://www.bearfacedrecords.com/EbMBlog_mp3s/Toodar/ToodarTOG_FlashFloodsAndWildfire.mp3]

The October Game – Ten Paces (Toodar cover)[audio http://www.bearfacedrecords.com/EbMBlog_mp3s/Toodar/TOG_TenPaces.mp3]

Buy this EP here.