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Rating: Band from another era, the Cranes: romantic, ethereal, icy... undeniably great. After the excellent "Wings of Joy" and the beautiful "Forever" (not to forget the demo "Self-No-Self"), the Cranes remain consistent even with the fourth album "Loved", a work perhaps too underestimated compared to its real value.
Dark and gloomy like the most depressed dark-wave, delicate and spectral like the most enveloping dream pop, the Portsmouth group represents a sort of encounter between Cure and Cocteau Twins, but viewed in a more elegiac key. Pushed by the prestigious support of Mr. Robert Smith (as we were saying..) they have been able to stand out for a quite personal style capable of evolving over time, totally based on the fascinating contrast between dreamlike guitar themes, psychedelic dissonances, and Shaw's fragile innocent little voice, who also handles the bass on the record. The beautiful and brooding leader sings these slow lullabies with a delicate and childish falsetto with an effect to say the least suggestive. Nothing to do with the brilliant Liv Kristine or the classic 90's goth stereotype of beauty and the beast: rather something more complex and metaphysical, a solemn and hypnotic lament emulating a child's cry. Pure splendor.
The problem (or the beauty, depending on the perspective) is that we are talking about a dozen records with the same "whining" and monotone voice without ever changing its register: there are generally two reactions: 1 Getting bored quickly, something like hitting your balls with a hammer. 2 Fully entering this magnificent spiral of suffocating and supernatural gray watercolors, of which Alison's celestial voice is only the cherry on top, that something extra. And watch out for that "extra": change its setting, remove the "Lolita" attire and the cloying yet exquisite naive pose and we have nothing more than one of the many dream pop... shoegaze... gothic... darkwave bands or whatever you want, since they fit in more or less all of that (even arriving at apocalyptic-industrial territories on the never too celebrated "La Tragédie d'Oreste et Electre"). Hence, it's clear how Shaw represents an element with a more than fundamental role within the English ensemble, here completed by Mark Francombe and the jack-of-all-trades Jim Shaw on guitar (the latter also on keyboards and drums), as well as the author of the songs along with his sister.
A band thus with a well-defined musical identity and clear ideas. Jim's omnipresent acoustic guitar paints canvases now graceful, now sinister, to accompany the pounding and lascivious drum beat, like in the most classic gothic scenario; distant distorted guitars and the always very lively sound of bass, punctuated by sporadic insertions of strings and piano, are the main elements on which the sound of "Loved" is based. Tracks like the march "Force of the Entity", the dark pulsation of "Reverie" and the sweet gloom of "Bewildered" gain strength from this cluster of style ideas creating that dark and desolate atmosphere (but not too much, considering a certain barely concealed spiritual joy often difficult to see) which is typical of the band, here betrayed only by the sweet "Shining Road" and by the mild frivolity of "Pale Blue Sky".
Alison's gentle and childlike singing reaches significant peaks on the unsettling lullaby "Paris and Rome" and on the masterpiece "Beautiful Friend": extended atmospheres, slide guitar, and insistent drumming model a foggy melody with remarkably resigned tones. The repetitive noises and disharmonies of "In The Night" harken back to the beginnings of "Self-No-Self", "Come This Far" is more gothic than all, while the acoustic and dramatic charm of "Are You Gone" reminds, this time very closely, of the Cocteau Twins.
A rediscovery together with the previous two. Lovable!
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Shining Road (03:51)
She's been making plans to go (you know)
Hit the bright lights, hit the road
To the city lights this time
Just don't worry I'll be fine
And she eats the food she bought
Cause its colored with a thought
But the thought could never know
Its lonely and empty too
She's been making plans to go (you know)
Hit the bright lights, hit the road
To the city lights this time
Just don't worry I'll be fine
And is it all because of you?
Everytime I look at you
If I look back nevermind
Just don't worry, I'll be fine
Never look back, nevermind
Just don't worry I'll be fine
Never look back, nevermind
Just don't worry I'll be fine
04 Lilies (03:45)
Warm days fill my head
Like beautiful lilies
And the sun casts a shadow on the clouds
And I'm dreaming . . .
Something to hold
Something to feel
Someone to love
Someone to need . . .
On down the dusty path
Goodbye! Goodbye!
I'll miss you!
And the sky puts on his grey cloak
And the day blows fear onto
All the lonely souls
As they wander lost along the way
Asking . . .
Where am I . . . ?
Where am I . . . ?
And oh -
Those rainbows are long gone
And mud lies where those
Days once shone
And now there's just a space . . .
05 Are You Gone? (02:58)
are you gone did you just fly away the sun is gone away and I can't seem to find my way are you gone just like in dreams you said and dreams should never die and I just want to hide away are you gone did you just fly away the sun is gone away and I can't seem to find my way are you gone just like in dreams you said and dreams should never die and I just want to hide away
06 Loved (03:10)
Try to hold on
Though it seems you can't go on
You know that you can be strong
Find a way to carry on
And God bless your soul
In the heavens up above
If you can't find a way
You must know that you are loved
Try to be strong
Find a way to carry on
I know you are brave
And I hope you find your way
Is there a reason why
the sky gets black at night and
Our hearts feel like stone
And you're left to face this alone?
Try to be strong
Find a way to carry on
I know you are brave
And I hope you find your way
I know you are brave
And I hope you find your way
07 Beautiful Friend (03:14)
I feel those days without end
when we used to be friends
those summer days were spent
in search of hope and happiness
we used to while away our days
in a beautiful haze
I guess I knew one day
that you'd be moving long away
you said go back to your dream
back to your wilderness
go back along the walk
maybe you'll find some happiness
I wept a thousand tears for you
for my love that came true
and soon I realized
I'd always dreamt it'd come to this
And though that time passes by
and that our lives have changed
but our love was special
our love was strange
And though my heart broke
in time it did mend
except when I think about the time
that we used to be friends
10 Paris and Rome (06:04)
In Paris and in Rome
And in places far from home
From the mountains to the sea
To wherever the road my lead
I wonder where you'll go
Will the sun shine as you go?
There's all the World, you know
Just beyond the worlds we know
Don't be lonely now
If you can try to be brave
Maybe the sun will come back
To wash your tears away
In Paris and in Rome
And wherevery you may roam
From the mountains to the sea
To wherever the road my lead
I wonder where you'll go
Will the sun shine as you go?
There's all the World you know
Just beyond the worlds we know
And I'll always remember
The things that we said
And the things that we dreamed
And the world we nearly had
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