Circa Waves - "What's It Like Over There?" (2019)

Circa Waves' 2017 sophomore album, Different Creatures, was a great development from their debut. It added darker and heavier elements to their youthful indie rock sound, creating a more sonically diverse album that still retained its blistering energy. So when frontman Keiran Shudall started talking about how the next album would be even more visceral and cinematic, I was exited. Unfortunately, it's not very cinematic, just underwritten, overproduced and sonically all over the place.

The album is short, 30 minutes long, with only 10 tracks. One of which, the title track, is only a intro track to the album. This track is literally the sound of some gulls and a van door closing, which I find frankly bizarre as it doesn't feel like it connects to the actual first track at all. So there's actually 9 proper tracks, in a 30 minute timespan which cover completely different styles. There's no flow or running thread throughout the album, just a bunch of vastly disparate songs.

And the songs, they aren't great. The actual first track, Sorry I'm Yours, sets the album off on a bad foot with typical Imagine Dragons style overblown bass and percussion during the chorus. It is such a turn off for me. Then follows Times Wont Change Me, a stomping piano rock tune that does initially have some bite. That is until about 50 seconds in when Keiran has sung the line 'these times wont change me now' about 4 times already and you realise hes going to sing it about 400 more times before the song finishes. That's a big problem that runs through much of the album, most of the songs feel really underwritten. The verses don't seem to have much detail or depth, and the choruses are just the song titles repeated 4 times over. Me Myself And Hollywood has this problem as well. The track has these really chilled verses with this lackadaisical Arctic Monkeys Humbug style guitar. But the title is legitimately the title repeated 4 times. What does 'me myself and Hollywood' even mean? Be Somebody Good is perhaps strangest mess on the whole album. It opens with a really nice angst ridden opening verse that's set to programmed drums and it builds in intensity until the chorus hits, which consists of Keiran singing 'I wanna be somebody good' over and over against the returning overblown pop-rock drums and bass. There is a really nice sounding guitar solo at the end of the track, but it really comes out of nowhere and is over in 6 seconds, so feels really out of place. The Way We Say Goodbye and Motorcade are more consistent sounding songs, but are rather underwhelming attempts at their respective genres (the former being mid-2000s soft rock akin to Coldplay and Snow Patrol, and the latter being a more electronic rock leaning sound). The best the album has to offer is lead single Movies and the closer Saviour. Movies is a pretty standard Circa Waves song, with their trademark youthful energy. Savour is the bands attempt at blues rock and definitely feels like the loosest song on the album, and also seems the most poignant, with lyrics about class divisions.

It's strange after the political songwriting on Different Creatures that this album is so devoid of it. Apparently Keiran was fighting writers block when creating this album, and you can definitely tell with all the repeated phrases and the fact these songs don't really appear to be about much beyond their vague pontificating. The frustrating thing is that there is something I like about every song on this record; I like Keiran's performance of chorus on Sorry I'm Yours, I like the backing vocals and production on Passport, I like the general aesthetic of Me Myself and Hollywood. But they're all assembled into these hodgepodge, clunky songs. If they were struggling to write something meaningful, maybe the band should've taken a break for a bit instead of heading right into the studio.

Top Track: Movies, Saviour

4/10

Nothing But Thieves - "What Did You Think When You Made Me This Way?" (2018)

UK rock group Nothing But Thieves were quick to follow up their 2017 sophomore album, Broken Machine, with this 4 track EP written on the road touring that album; released just over a year later. While I enjoyed the promo single, Forever And Ever More, I pretty much forgot about the EP until it's release a few months later. I expected a bunch of pretty good tracks, just to hold fans over until the next full LP. What I got was a couple of the best tracks the band has ever recorded, with the other two being pretty great as well.

Forever And Ever More opens the EP with a crunchy guitar line and Conor Mason's characteristic falsetto vocals. The track deals with the bands usual themes of feeling emotionally trapped, embracing the worst impulses, but now with an added fun, vampiric twist. Gods starts off sounding straight out of Bends-era Radiohead, with the muddy acoustic guitar and Conor's dry, hoarse vocals. That is until the chorus hits and utterly explodes into one of the bands loudest cuts. The breakdown towards the end of this track is absolutely ferocious. After that You Know Me Too Well slows things down, sounding more akin to some of the slower moments from their debut. The rich production and Conor's gentle vocals create a sensual atmosphere which really draws you in. The final track, Take This Lonely Heart, is up there with the very best the band has created in my opinion. The loud, anthemic tune just builds and builds in intensity as Conor's souring vocals seethe so much raw emotion.

This EP is really great and has me even more exited for where the band goes next than Broken Machine did (I think that album is also pretty great). Its definitely their best produced and most consistent release yet.

Top Tracks: Forever And Ever More, Gods, You Know Me Too Well, Take This Lonely Heart

8/10

Joy Division - "Closer" (1980)

I love Joy Division's era defining debut, Unknown Pleasures, but it is only recently that I have been properly listening to their follow up, Closer, and some of their other one off singles and compilation tracks. I have listened to Closer before recently, but only really straight after Unknown Pleasures, and never really paying much attention to it, as I was always doing something while it was on. So I have been listening to it a lot over the past few weeks, giving it more attention, and for a long while it just wasn't clicking and I didn't know why. It doesn't sound all that different from Unknown Pleasures (a few lighter, more new-wavey moments scatter the tracklist but its not a drastic shift); and it still has Ian Curtis' twisted and tortured lyrics on top. I just always ended up drifting during the middle of the record, but it was never on the same track so I couldn't just assume that there was just a track that wasn't working. It was only when I once again had it on in the background while doing some housework where it really clicked and I found myself really enjoying the record.

The album opens with Atrocity Exhibition, a track very different to Unknown Pleasures' sound. It has these thunderous drums and wild, noisy guitar screeching at the top of the mix. Curtis sings about the Victorian insane asylums that were used as tourist attractions as if he is a circus ringmaster. The whole thing feels dripping with satire and subtext. The next track, Isolation, has these glittering synth lines dancing across the track, completely juxtaposed with Curtis' dark lyrics about feeling so alone in the world and the shame he feels about his epilepsy. From here on out the album just gets darker and more depressed. You can tell from Ian Curtis' haunted lyrics and vocals that he was really on the end of his tether at this point, so close to the end of his life. A Means to an End seethes of betrayal as Curtis sings "I put my trust in you", and Heart and Soul sees him completely hopeless. Twenty Four Hours builds into an intense frenzy, with the last verse in particular feeling very suicidal. The last line of this track is "Gotta find my destiny, before it gets too late.", before the gothic The Eternal begins. This long, slow track feels like Curtis has almost burned himself out, becoming this passive, spectral voice floating in the fog of the instrumentation. The closer, Decades, brings back some colour with the more saturated bass and synths sounding like accordion. leaving the album with some sembilance of hope as it finishes.

While I still prefer Unknown Pleasures for its knife-edge tension and atmosphere, I have really started to come round on this record. It contains some of the bands darkest moments and shows signs of where the group would go as New Order after Curtis' passing. It's not accessible music and it's not meant to be, but is deeply rewarding once you get invested.

Top Tracks: Atrocity Exhibition, Isolation, A Means to an End, Heart and Soul, Twenty Four Hours, The Eternal, Decades

8/10

Garbage - "Garbage" (1995)

Garbage are a band I have been casually interested in for years. I enjoy their music when it comes up on the radio and I have had this album saved on Spotify since I've had it; I may have even listened to it once or twice. However I haven't really given them enough attention to properly get into them.

Garbage are one of the most critically acclaimed groups of the post-grunge scene, crafting a unique sound incorporating elements of grunge and 90's alternative rock with electronics, dance and rave. This creates a loud and busy sound, that's also melodic and radio friendly. Some tracks lean more to the rock side of the spectrum, like Not My idea and Supervixen, while others are far more dancey, for example As Heaven Is Wide and Stupid Girl. More subtle use of synths and electronics are used in places across the album on the gentler tracks. Album closer Milk almost leans into some trip-hop sounding beats.

I wouldn't describe Shirley Manson's vocals as anything Earth shattering, but are nonetheless incredibly expressive and build the intensity on the heavier tracks and show vulnerability when needed. She very much sounds like a 90's rock front-woman. The lyrics on the, other hand, are fascinating. The band cover themes of self-loathing, sexuality, obsession, self-destruction, abuse and power fantasies. The uptempo music and the tone of Shirely's voice mean it doesn't become too depressing though. It creates the vibe that some of what the band are saying are interesting fictions, or at least extensions of the truth.

Supervixen and Vow are relationship power fantasies, with the latter being straight up abusive, with Shirley singing "I will break your soul apart" as part of the chorus. Stupid Girl and Dog New Tricks are positioned on the other end of the situation, detailing the self-loathing and worthlessness of the victim. Only Happy When It Rains is a catchy tune about wallowing in depression and negativity and Fix Me Now is a cry for help late on in the tracklist.

This album is a blast. It's dark and curious, yet remaining very listenable. Each track provides something slightly different to the table, but remains very much within the sound of the album. Not everything from the post-grunge scene has held up all that well, but this album totally has and I'm looking forward to delving into the rest of their discography.

Top Tracks: Supervixen, Queer, Only Happy When It Rains, As Heaven is Wide, Vow, Stupid Girl, Fix Me Now, Milk

8/10