To avoid more complaints of me not actually “blogging” but just posting useless videos and links to my official reviews, I thought I’d big up a record I’ve loved recently.

Slowlands - Never Was There A Town
I came into contact with this record a number of months ago, played it, but never really thought much about it. My life was rather busy then and I had too much music (is that possible) to listen to. However, a trawl through my iTunes library last week made me realise I hadn’t really given this a good listen. Pressing play opened up a fantastic record brimming with ideas and brilliant hooks that I missed the first time around. It’s very definitely an “American” record, it’s musical background steeped in Americana from Bruce Springsteen to Neil Young. There’s also a hint of the recent Canadian scene and influence of The Arcade Fire in the full on orchestration of some of the tracks. From the gentle acoustic intro of Lighthouse and the hushed vocals you know this is something special whilst the production wraps the whole album is an air of Autumninal nights - there’s something warm and glowing about it. Listeners Dilemma with it’s harmonica interludes and duelling picked guitars is a beautiful song before the drums kick in and the song builds into something more. One More Fire reminds me of something a little different, echoes of very British acts like New Order with a touch of later-era Waterboys with it’s Big Sound and fuzzed up guitars.

With no UK release for this album yet, it’s hard to get hold of, but can be ordered from Insound, but whilst you’re waiting, pop along to their Myspace site for some aural treats.

Official Website | Myspace