Tindersticks 'Falling Down A Mountain'

Hard to believe it is over sixteen years since I first heard a Tindersticks song. Since then they have pretty much consistently been my favourite band and for a time in the early 00s, I felt like I knew what I was going to get from a new Tindersticks album - no surprises but no disappointments either.

That all changed with the hiatus and line up change that took place after 'Waiting For The Moon', eventually seeing the band return with a great set of songs and a renewed sense of energy and purpose for 2008's 'The Hungry Saw'. Now with another slightly tweaked line-up, they return with 'Falling Down A Mountain', the most vibrant and alive Tindersticks album since their debut.

Whereas 2003's 'Waiting For The Moon' album was polished and precise, sounding like each song had been meticulously rehearsed before being recorded, 'Falling Down A Mountain' is deliciously off the cuff. The opener and title track originated from a melody recorded onto mobile phone and built into a glorious, jazzy six minutes with Terry Edwards' trumpet taking centre stage over some laid back bass and guitar with Stuart Staples' understated vocal contributing to the mood rather than dominating the song. Its a wildly different opener for Tindersticks and while things never get quite so adventurous again, what follows is a collection of songs showcasing the band's various different styles, including some new ones, giving in the sound of a Greatest Hits collection.

'Harmony Around My Table', for example, wouldn't have sounded out of place on 1999's soulful 'Simple Pleasure', building into a rousing crescendo with 'doo-wop' style backing vocals and Staples cutting loose with a terrific vocal that demonstrates how much he is enjoying the band's reinvigoration. 'Peanuts', a quirky duet with Mary Margaret O'hara and 'She Rode Me Down', a mariachi style song with a memorable flute sound throughout, both bring memories of old glories but it is the second half of the album where the band sound supremely confident with a string of career highs.

'Black Smoke' is a heady rush of a song, coming on ever so slightly like the Velvet Underground, with Staples' voice emerging through the fog to sing lines like "I can see the outline of my feelings now", it is frenetic, unstoppable and triumphant. They follow it with the Stones-ish 'No Place So Alone', excellent electric guitar from Neil Fraser, layered vocals and witty lyrics ("he's mooching round my kitchen now/ he's whisking up my eggs"), poppy, loose and jangly, I can see this getting some radio airplay if released as a single.

'Factory Girls', which follows, is simply gorgeous, one of the finest Tindersticks songs. It builds from a beautiful extended piano introduction into a majestic, swirling middle-part with Staples singing his heart out and then fades away again. The opening is impossibly sad ("its the wine that makes me sad/ not the good times that I've had" and then Staples' vocals soar to sing "I'm standing up and not falling down", it is momentous, triumphant...a quite beautiful song.

'Piano Music' which closes the album is an instrumental, with many more instruments used than the title suggests, building into several different sections and styles. A fitting end to an adventurous album.

Tindersticks returned in 2008 with 'The Hungry Saw', an album that showcased the style that made me love them back in the 90s. They haven't tried to replicate that here, instead they have made the album they wanted to make, without worrying about what had gone before. This is an adventurous and vibrant record. It may take Tindersticks fans a while to get used to the changes, but this is an album that will stand the test of time and may end up being one of the very finest records of 2010.

9.4

[This was reviewed from a promo. 'Falling Down A Mountain' is out on January 25th on cd and vinyl via 4AD. There is a special edition vinyl version from Constellation Records in the U.S]