Glasgow quintet French Wives have been gathering a quiet momentum since they formed back in 2008. That time has seen them accrue a well-received flurry of singles and a solid local fan base which fully expects them to achieve wider success with the release of their debut album. That is a stage at which so many promising artists before them have fallen but Dream of the Inbetween is a very promising, if slightly flawed, introduction.
There’s no denying that they have gathered a collection of solid well-crafted indiepop, which is easily accessible without ever lapsing into formulaic blandness. As for points of reference, the songs sit somewhere further along the Scottish lineage occupied by the likes of Ballboy, Belle and Sebastian and Camera Obscura. On first listen it all seems quite happy-go-lucky, but further listens uncover a darker heart and a depth of emotion which both encourage and reward further attention.
Unlike many these days, Field Music are a band who refuse to stagnate and this fourth album somehow manages to branch out in even more myriad directions following last years epic double disc Measure. It is this refusal which makes the band notable, their insistence on evolution pushing resolutely against the tides of what is considered cool.
The band emerged from the early 00’s post-punk revival and count Maximo Park and The Futureheads amongst their peers and former members. Whilst those bands have struggled, Field Music have attracted increasing acclaim as they evolve with every release. Following Measure’s mixture of big rock ‘n’ roll guitar riffs and more ambient passages, Plumb sees the duo return to their own backyard with charmingly deconstructive pop music.
I must admit that I generally don’t keep up to date with new soul music, as it’s often difficult to separate the good stuff from the carbon copies of stuff that’s been done to death. Occasionally though I do stumble across something which gets me excited, and one of the recent-ish examples of this was Lee Fields and The Expressions last record ‘My World’. That was released in 2009 and I’ve not really found anything quite as good since (soul wise) so this new album got me rather excited. Thankfully it is far from being the letdown I was braced for.
The only reason I braced myself is that this is Field’s 12th studio album in a 43 year career, and very few artists can maintain a level of quality such a long period of time. Faithful Man is everything you would want from this kind of record though, by turns sickly sweet and upliftingly defiant but always with a deft smoothness only a true soul man could deliver. Field’s voice throughout is captivating as he exolts a world weary wisdom, a man who should be broken by lost loves and missed opportunities. Like on ‘Wish You Were Here’ he croons about ‘spend all my days wasting away’ after being abandoned by a lover. This is all done with a defiant hopefulness and things never lapse into miserly self-pity.
This is in large part down to the musical backing, again provided by The Expressions (who can also be heard on Aloe Blacc’s global smash I Need A Dollar and records by Adele, Ghostface Killah and Jay-Z to name a few - the guys have got pedigree). Really it’s here that the record excels in terms of authenticity with unusually catchy string and brass arrangements augmenting slick guitar and Field’s gravelly velvet vocals.
This is another great collection from an unsung soul icon, and if there’s any kind of justice then another few albums like this really ought to see him considered as important as many of his contemporaries who have long given up on releasing quality new material.
Listen> You’re The Kind of Girl
The role of drunken confessional frontman is a beleaguered one in American indie rock. Once a group reaches a certain level of critical recognition it is difficult for the figurehead to maintain a position of downtrodden underdog without a sense of diminishing returns, and save for The National or arguably Brand New few have managed it in recent years. Tim Kasher of Cursive is one such frontman who has been struggling to maintain his self-targeted vitriol.
Last album Mama I’m Swollen was representative of their declining form and, for me at least, they’ve never quite re-captured the articulated intensity of 2003 album The Ugly Organ. This is now the Omaha group’s 7th studio album and it’s apparent that they’re striving to freshen things up. That said I Am Gemini is yet another concept album, this time about two twin brothers separated at birth and who over the course of thirteen tracks battle one another over a soul or something. Oh yeah, and one of them is evil, and the whole messy affair culminates in some raging symbolic fire in a “house that is not a home”. It’s clear that this sort of storytelling isn’t going to immerse every listener but for the most part it can be dismissed as an allegorical backdrop should you choose to ignore it.
Anyone who is vaguely familiar with the band’s previous output will know what to expect here musically: frantic twisted guitars with breathless dour vocals and dashes of elegance in the odd bit of strings. It’s generally with the latter that Cursive tend to excel, when they expand their palette beyond that of a guitar band, mainly as Kasher’s verbose lyrics often need a similarly grandiose backing to avoid them sounding a bit indulgent.
