Gomez
A New Tide

Strange story that of the Gomez.

Ten years ago they could have conquered the world, but like good boys from Southport they left the limelight and certain rock imperialism to others, who were more cunning and also mediocre. The music of Gomez never followed the screams and hysteria on the covers of the NME, and perhaps this remains one of the reasons why after the initial success of the first two albums, they were almost ignored by the advertising-driven British press. Revisionist enthusiasts among Band, Grateful Dead, and Beatles, they showed very little arrogance, didn’t date models, and appeared genuinely humble in interviews (what fools!). So rootsy, bluesy, and "American" inside and so little English during the chic and vulgar years of Brit-pop. It feels like yesterday; it was '98 when their debut "Bring It On" won the Mercury Music Prize and beat, in order, Verve, Pulp, Cornershop, and "Mezzanine". The follow-up "Liquid Skin", at least for this writer, was even more enjoyable in its classic references to the pastel psychedelia of the Sixties, the wind in the hair of the West Coast, and that polluted-Beckhansian blues typical of the nineties melting pot. Their ballads were often epic and delicate, a florilegium of folk-acoustic and then electric. Do you remember when in "Animal House" Bluto\Belushi & co. seem almost defeated, yet in the end they have their righteous revenge on the hated Omega elite? The best songs of Gomez manage to give me almost the same joyful sensations.

Published on Dave Matthews' Ato Records label and produced by Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Califone), "A New Tide" is probably the best album with the name "Gomez" on it since "We Haven't Turned Around" and "Fill My Cup". A new beginning for Ian Ball and his bandmates after the last uncertain albums. The love for tradition filtered through (post)modernity, the perfect intertwining of the voices of Ben Ottewell, Tom Gray, and Ball, the gentle and oblique melodies sometimes tainted by humane electronics increase the amazement of reuniting with old companions lost for a long time. It takes little to fall in love with these eleven forgotten tracks ("Lost Track"), just give them the necessary space and care. The result will be a "Natural Reaction". Imagine an acoustic Vedder wearing sunglasses fooling around with Iron And Wine ("Little Pieces"), a contagious pop prank worthy of an Eels-New Pornographers liaison ("If I Ask You Nicely") or a vaguely Radiohead psycho/ballad yet optimistic (the charming "Mix"), where the drum insists cheerfully syncopated and colors the memory of the first summer kiss to Marylou.

In less than three-quarters of an hour, the mature simplicity of "A New Tide" clarifies that Gomez are still among us. Free to play with the romance and sinuous strings of "Win Park Slope" and to elaborate a surprisingly sticky, catchy remake of Red Red Meat (the single "Airstream Driver").

Strange story that of Gomez. Strange life. What fools these Gomez.