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Rating: Don't be deceived. If I'm reviewing this (semi-unknown) album by this group (still and unfortunately semi-unknown), it's certainly not because we are facing a masterpiece. It doesn't even have a revolutionary scope or anything unusual. So what does this album have? Beauty. Beauty to spare. And power, lots of it. Exactly the same beauty and power as the voice of Finn Andrews, the group's frontman, a perfect blend between Tom Waits and Thom Yorke (just imagine that...). Our man, after a scintillating debut album ("The Runaway Found"), finds himself alone, forced to rebuild the group from scratch. But as we know, it's from the most difficult situations that the most amazing things arise...
Sure, as I said, it's not a flawless work. There are many empty passages, compensated, however, by at least 4 memorable tracks. But let's proceed in order.
It opens with "Not Yet", a sustained ride accompanied by acoustic guitar, piano, and voice. An excellent opener, which grows through stops and starts until it explodes. But beware, here comes "Calliope!", a sweet pop ballad with a honeyed flavor that gets into your head and doesn’t leave, thanks to a sparkling chorus and an appealing melodic line. We catch our breath with "Advice For Young Mothers To Be", a track that doesn't have much to say. But don't despair, because "Jesus For The Jugular" is coming: a terrifying march that creates an quite chilling atmosphere, with Finn Andrews in great shape. As if that weren’t enough, around the corner is "Pan" (one of those famous 4 memorable tracks...), built on an aggressive piano like never before and a very syncopated drum. The voice, well, it goes without saying... Moreover, note a finale where Finn seriously risks his vocal cords. A triumph.
Halfway through the album. It continues with "A Birthday Present". A tinkling, a music box that accompanies us throughout the piece. A filler song, without many pretensions. The same goes for the following "Under The Folding Branches", a piano and voice episode that relaxes the atmosphere before the descent into hell. We are talking about the title track, in my opinion the most beautiful piece of the album and the entire group’s production. "Nux Vomica" is pure malice. Raw, direct, fierce, it messes up your hair and doesn't ask for permission. The ending, as usual, is epic. I couldn’t even begin to describe it. Listen and you will understand. But it doesn't end there... There is still "One Night On Earth" that demands attention, with its wonderful guitar arpeggio and its atmosphere full of light and shadows (it really feels like being immersed in the night of an unknown planet similar to Earth). It closes with "House Where We All Live", underpinned by an acoustic guitar, organ counterpoints, and Andrews' extraordinary (as usual) and poignant voice.
Pure spontaneity. It hits you at first listen. It can be addicting.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Not Yet (04:54)
Mama when she'd ride that horse
Buried out in Wilson fields
Mama'd tell me all she thought
Mama'd tell me all how riding feels
And I thought
Not yet.
Then when mama got too old
No one ever rode that horse
Until one night I stole her key
And I did ride it all night 'till dawn
When I thought
Not yet.
It looks an ugly world out there
Of girl-guides and disease and war
I love my little velvet bed
I never want to leave it anymore
At least
Not yet.
Charlie was the first I caught
And Charlie was the first I begged
To lay an anchor in my heart
He was running his fingers down the inside of my legs
When I thought
Not yet.
All my fears will come to me in dreams
Maybe the end ain't as far as it seems
Not yet revived but not yet mourned
Not quite denied just not yet born.
02 Calliope! (03:35)
I woke this morning deep in the earth Laying bare with the granite and the moths Up I clambered and I was met by the sun It was then I saw you there, down on the street
My love You've come such a long way With no one to comfort you Or to tell you you're needed
You and I come from the same place But if I were to call for you What's there left to believe in?
So I signaled up to the high and crumbling moon We've made it then, my love Closed both my eyes and crawled under the sink And as I dreamt I swear i felt you in my arms again
You've come such a long way With no one to comfort you Or to tell you you're needed
You and I come from the same place But if I were to call for you What's there left to believe in?
What's there left to believe in?
What's there left to believe in?
No way, you're looking down Took my heart and ripped my crown And i'm fallin' for ya, and i'm fallin' for ya, And i'm falling for you, ah, That's enough to believe in.
You've come such a long way With no one to comfort you Or to tell you you're needed
You and I come from the same place But if I were to call for you What's there left to believe in?
What's there left to believe in?
You're all i've left to believe in
03 Advice for Young Mothers to Be (03:25)
She found the world embedded in the snow
It's too bad the rest have made it all their own
there's got to be a better way somehow but I don't know
Wish I could find the words and heal my baby
She made a crib with blankets for the floor
Painted the bluest colour on the walls
I don't want to know the time I don't care about that at all
Nobody knows the way to heaven baby
No, this can't go on
Your advice for young mothers to be
We'll never find the words, darling believe me
So here it is your heart's out in the cold
The friends who care still call you on the phone
The vicar said it's wrong but hey what does he know
He said its wrong but that the Lord forgave me
Well I don't want his pity and your scorn
Boy why you preaching no one's listening anymore
That old live of yours sickens me
Directed I'm on an eternal call
No man alive has earned the right to save me
No, this can't go on
Your advice for young mothers to be
We'll never find the words, darling believe me
No, this can't go on
Your advice for young mothers to be
We'll never find the words, darling believe me
Now here I am, I'm pushing 24
I've got a house and a little terrace on the lawn
My baby's grown and I'm as happy as a fawn
Now only the beauty of the world delays me
No, this can't go on
Your advice for young mothers to be
We'll never find the words, darling believe me
No, this crown of thorns
Your advice for young mothers to be
We'll never find the words, darling believe me
04 Jesus for the Jugular (04:46)
How do you preach the word if you don't know how to read
When they hold your soul once you sign the deed
Would the sun still rise if there’s no-one round
Would the fox be as quick if he hadn’t his hound
Let him go from me
This whole world spins with her feet off the ground
She’ll make the stars applaud when she sits back down
There’s a bulls-blooded fountain in the pit of a moan
That I'll summon an eclipse on my way to the lord
Let him go from me
Jesus for the jugular - one at a time
Ain’t nobody ever gonna ever have to die
06 A Birthday Present (03:43)
Everybody thinks it's something real
Right until the devil drinks it
O-li-o
O-li-o
Everything's fate and spinning wheels
Everybody wants their princes
O-li-o
O-li-o
There's no sense in waiting for a swift completion to come
That invitation is all I'm waiting on
The tedious thoughts of the head of state
Is seldom ever worth revealing
O-li-o
O-li-o
Indelible stains on the human race
You idiots, fakes and murderers
O-li-o
O-li-o
There's no sense in waiting for a swift completion never comes
That invitation is all I'm waiting on
Everybody thinks the end is here
How am I to tell the difference
O-li-o
O-li-o
Wish everybody a happy new year
There's varying results predicted
O-li-o
O-li-o
There's no sense in waiting for a swift completion to come
That invitation is all I'm waiting on
08 Nux Vomica (05:30)
What say you, Lord
For the olive boys down in the house of corrections
As they try for love and any form of ascension
Am I on the right train headed in the wrong direction
What say you, Lord
What say you, Lord
Am I living wrong
Do you see a long road with no one on it
And the right of men that you learnt only to forget
You see my sad wife and my high margin of profit
But you don't care at all
You don't care
At all
What say you, Lord
Now that they're breeding all our animals insane
And the remedy is growing harder to obtain
There's a white horse running wild through the switch-cane
I can hear him now
And I fear him
'Til Kingdom come
Caught in this frenzy of elimination
Such an irreparable disintegration
My body's twitching with a ready expectation
For Kingdom come
My Kingdom
Come
What say you, Lord
Why is the truth of this so hard to unveil?
Though it's true I never knew what this would entail
From the hands of Christ to the heads of the Daily Mail
I'll see you all
And I'll raise you
Lord
Now what say you, all
I wonder when the light is brought up for sale
With the weight of love and the grace of the Baleen Whale
Will the severed Heads of State be at all curtailed
Will they be here at all -
Will they be dead and gone?
What say you Lord
Of the serpent-taled, forbidden fish of the harbours
And the ready-men, defiant drinkers and charmers
All lost and summoning the face of their fathers
Can you see thm now?
I can see 'em
What say you, all
Do I believe it if I do not want it
Do I lie alone and keeps my cold hands off it
Honey, it ain't hard to loose your grip in the midst of all of this
But it ain't far to fall
It's not far at all
Pain
What
09 One Night on Earth (04:08)
I shook from my dream I wasn't here
To shake from my own sight
Shake, ache from the light of everything
Shake for that which sinks but can't drown
Your face
It will not be back again
Oh fate, your face
To summon it away is to back down
I'm not so alone in here tonight
The light shines off the pennies in the street
And love feels such a plausible delight
And now I've learnt the lyrics in full to Auld Lang Sine
Oh fate, Your face
It will not be back again
Oh fate, your face
To summon it away
Oh fate, Your face
It will not be back again
Oh fate, your face
To summon it away is to back down
Now the wolves all howl
And the birds all sing it:
"He backed down"
10 House Where We All Live (05:06)
There's an old child's swing set on the lawn
And an ivied wall lured by the years
A neckerchiefed spaniel patrols the swamp
And drinks from the garden of our tears
There are many rooms and many floows
A billion up and a billion down
I'm not sure God knows we're here
Most nights it keeps to itself
There's a widow's wing and an unloved wing
On the unwanted floor towards the rear
I've tried to memorise their names
But no sooner one dies than another appears
There were bible verses all down the halls
But they soon got replaced with explcit cartoons
There are lipstick marks on all our collars
Amd the sign on the gate reads 'Come Back Soon'
We all do our best to keep it clean
But some guy's minds are like a sieve
Sometimes It's a little hard to sleep at night
In the house where we all live
Now when I walk the grounds at dawn
I hear the sounds of far off bells
I lay my feet out in the reeds
And dream of being somewhere else
So boy, next time you are in town
Just ring the bell and I'll let you in
I don't think you're going to need directions -
Just ask for the house where we all live
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Finn has a great voice. Expressive, raw, often almost hysterical.
"Jesus for the Jugular" is a piece that seems inspired by Tom Waits, where Finn finally pulls out the guts and the voice.
