fiel garvie - leave me out of this
first of all lets talk about the packaging. multi-foldout digipack in thick glitter embossed glossy cardboard. all very nice and rather impressive, supposedly designed by the band themselves proving that this quintet from norwich have more talents than most of the nme sanctioned guitar brandishers.
and so onto the music...
basically this is a band out of time and place.
10 years out of time.
following my bloody valentines epic 'loveless' which fused twisted melodies and Armageddon guitars with dizzying results. this monumental release was then the blueprint for a new direction for the guitar pop combi the darling buds (amongst several others !), of whom i have a glowing memory of nostalgia, and, whose last lp 'erotica' was a missed classic, having trimmed the guitars and melded andreas sweet vocals onto restrained effect laden swirls and layers.
well fiel garvie have revisited this time and sound. taking the shoegazing fingerprint of slow calm songs and then adding subtle layers of instrumentation with some siren type female vocals. thus making a nice change from the usual gutter garage stomp. admittedly, the band haven't gone for the wall of sound style as the layers are often synthetic and spacious, making a more serene calm that slowdive liked to experiment with. having phil 'black box recorder, placebo, elastica' vinall touching up the finished results has probably improved the sheer epicness of the sounds.
while this may be a rather obvious revisitation of past glories and being honest there are times that the i found myself wishing for a full on let rip moment of noise/beats, this is a consistent solid downtempo album that fits a particular mood perfectly.
in other words - sunday morning post big night out.
there is little variety in rhythm and pace, making track 7 'talking a hole in my head' a vital standout track with its looped/processed beats and insistent vibe making this track a highlight.
the press release uses one word 'gorgeous', which is precisely what this is.