Bowerbirds 'Upper Air'

When I wrote about Bowerbirds' debut LP last year, I said that their music was entirely pleasant and listenable without doing anything much to make the listener really set up and take notice. They return here with a reduced line up, now just husband and wife Phil Moore and Beth Tacular, and to a certain extent more of the same. It all seems a little more focused and direct though.

Take opener 'House of Diamonds', a song advocating giving up the city life and moving to the country and embracing the natural world where "you are already free"..could be awful but the beguiling melody and Moore's strong, twisting vocal carries it through. There are moments too, when the rustic sounding acoustic guitars and accordions pause, allowing Moore and Tacular to share harmonies, their vocals mixing well together and creating an atmosphere something like early-Low.

Best of all though is 'Northen Lights', an exceptionally pretty love song presumably written by Moore for Tacular. It is both well written ("I don't expect a southern gril to know the northern lights") and very lovely ("All I want is your eyes, in the morning, as we wake for a short while").

The record drifts a little midway through before finishing with the sparse and thoughtful 'This Day'. Bowerbirds have a great album in them. That much is clear from the best stuff here and the spellbinding moments when Moore and Tacular sing together unaccompanied. I'd like to hear more of that, for now this is a fine and very listenable record.

7.8

['Upper Air' is out now on Dead Oceans]

new Mountain Goats LP...

Whilst wading through some pretty dull new releases that I have to review, came the news that a new Mountain Goats LP will arrive this Autumn.

Thank the Lord for that. Quite literally in fact, because every tMG album has a theme and this one is religion. The record is called 'The Life of the World to Come' and each track is named after a bible verse. Darnielle describes the theme as "twelve hard lessons I learned from the Bible". Jesus.

Anyway, as per the current trend, there is a free mp3 of one of the tracks ('Genesis 3:23') on the Mountain Goats website and it sounds good. Upbeat, with a full band sound and a gentle vocal...think a bit of 'The Sunset Tree' and a bit of 'Get Lonely'.

Album is out on October 5th, but I strongly suspect that there is going to be some kind of pre-order now, get the digital album instantly deal with this one. Just a hunch.

Zak Sally's Fear of Song - first listen

Zak's album is now available to buy via his website http://lamano21.com/

Also on the site is a quite brilliant description of the record, written by the man himself. The album is completely handmade, signed and numbered and will be posted out by Zak..the whole thing is a one man project. He instructs anyone wanting to review the record to buy the $7 download as "i'm probably broker than you are". So I did that, with the intention of ordering the record too (unless I completely hated it, which of course I don't)and I've now done that.

I'll write a proper review of this when I get the physical version, when someone has put so much effort into the whole thing, it seems a shame to review a $7 download. Anyway, this isn't the sort of record that you can really gives marks out of ten to, that would defeat the whole concept.

'Fear of Song' is a quite marvellous thing. Anyone who loved the part played in Low will want to hear this. It is a set of spontaneous, honest, big-hearted pieces of music. Not polished, not lush, not pretty but raw and true. I was expected a louder more aggressive record but am pleased at the mix of fiery, feedback drenched rockers and acoustic laments.

Buy this. It is possibly the least cynical and least calculated release of the year. One man in a room opening his heart and making some music from nothing. Great stuff.

Single of the Week...

Firstly, a quick word for the England cricket selectors..... "Beg Marcus Trescothick to return"...

Secondly, this week's single of the week is...

Zak Sally 'Why We Hide'

Loving this single. Zak describes it best himself when he says it is the sound of "one man clanging". It is also noisy, discordant, ramshakle but also strangely tuneful and catchy. It has some nice hand-claps midway through, which remind me of Zak's attempts to encourage audience participation when Low played 'La La La Song'. It is what you'd expect really, three minutes of U.S alt.rock noise. You get the impression from this that Zak had a lot to do with Low's 'The Great Destroyer'.

It is out now on pink vinyl from Subpop, you get a download voucher with the vinyl (or at least, I did).

The album is due out round about now on Zak's own label, although as yet there is no link to buy it on his website.

Noah and The Whale 'The First Days of Spring'

This band passed me by when they released their debut LP last year. It all seemed a bit light and overly jolly. Things appear to have changed though...

The first track from their second album 'The First Days of Spring' is available to download for free from the Noah and The Whale website and it is stunningly good. Tense, orchestral and lovelorn, it is the sound of a band making a huge jump in quality and stature. Looking forward to hearing the album.

Magnolia Electric Co. 'Josephine'

Back in 2003, under the guise of Songs:Ohia, Jason Molina made one of the great alt.country records, 'Magnolia Electric Co'. As near as anything gets these days to in-his-prime Neil Young, it was an album of power and grace, a beautiful, searing complete piece of music, that was just about perfect. I played it over and over on hot summer nights that year, with the windows open. It was all good and I thought Molina would just get better and better.

Since then however, his output has been somewhat patchy. Largely sidestepping the powerful stuff and concentrating on mood pieces or sketchy country numbers, he hasn't made a great album since. 'Josephine' arrives with a lot of fanfare, high hopes and a back story. MeCo bassist Evan Farell died whilst ideas for this album were being forumulated and the finished album serves as a tribute to him and his hopes for the record. It is a concept piece of sorts, the loss of 'Josephine' representing the loss of Evan and Molina centres most of these songs of themes of loneliness, loss and heartbreak.

But the first thing you notice when you hear opener 'O Grace' is a fuller and more varied sound. 'O Grace' is upbeat and accessible with harmonies on the chorus and sax and piano used. The first few tracks continue down this path, with the title number being catchy, short and snappy with some crashing guitar, although the lyrics are sombre "oh what a fool I've been".

He follows this with several dusky, acoustic numbers that would not be out of place on a Molina solo record, lonely and bruised. There is more variety to come though, 'Hope Dies Last' employs harmonies and a great bassline, 'The Handing Down' kicks off with a fiery guitar riff and settles down before producing some satisfying feedback mid-song, it will satisfy those who crave the riffs Molina gave us on numbers like 'The Dark Don't Hide It'.

Molina also gives us the two most unlikely songs of his career, to varying success. 'Little Sad Eyes' is a organ-led, doo-wop style interlude, sounding lazy and inconsequential next to some of the more considered material and 'An Arrow In The Gale' is an interesting closing track, short and sweet and with Beach Boys harmonies and split vocals.

Whatever styles and ideas Molina tries on 'Josephine' the lyrical themes remain the same. "I've been as lonely as the world's first ghost' he sings and the overwhelming themes are of loss and regret. This isn't as gloomy as it sounds and the sound of the record, particularly with the frequently used harmonies ("Oh Josephine" is a recurring refrain) presents a sense of hope.

After years of seemingly avoided making a straightforward album, by releasing various live albums, compilations and boxsets, Molina has shown that he is perfectly capable of producing a consistent, cohesive LP. 'Josephine' references all of the different phases of his career, whilst being the most varied and full recording he has produced to date. This doesn't quite scale the heights of 'Magnolia Electric Co' but it is a very good, thoughtful and passionate record.

8.5

['Josephine' is out now on Secretly Canadian on cd and lp. Magnolia Electric Co play UK dates in September.]

Mark Eitzel UK Tour Dates

As promised a while ago, below are the Autumn UK tour dates from genius singer-songwriter Mark Eitzel. From what I understand, Mark will be playing AMC songs at these shows and will also be playing the piano each night. These gigs are essential, Mark's show at Dingwalls in 2002 remains the greatest gig I have ever attended - I cannot remember ever experiencing so many emotions at one show. Support comes from The Hold Steady's Franz Nicolay. Most dates, including the London one, don't go on sale til next week:

4.10.09 - Exeter -Phoenix
6.10.09 - Winchester – Tower Arts Centre
7.10.09 - London - St Giles in the Fields
8.10.09 – Brighton – The Basement
3.11.09 - Bristol – St Bonaventures
4.11.09 - Birmingham – Glee Club
5.11.09 – Manchester - St Margaret's Church
7.11.09 – Edinburgh – Cabaret Voltaire
8.11.09 – Newcastle – Cluny 2
9.11.09 – Leeds - Brudnell Social Club