You get the idea that 4AD’s latest signings Broken Records are so proud of the orchestral grandeur present throughout their music that they walk through the streets of their native Edinburgh with their violins in machine gun cases, these archaic strings and bones are their weapons. Not dissimilar in scope and scale to countrymen The Twilight Sad, Before The Earth Begins To Part is unashamedly epic from it’s title onwards.
Vocalist Jamie Sutherland sings like a great big Scottish bear of a man, genuine passion and gusto dripping from each and every raw syllable and he can do falsetto just as adeptly as son of Edinburgh.
Opener ‘Nearly Home’ is a-whirl with heart wrenching strings and trumpets that blast and mourn in equal measure. The lyrics tend to play a supporting role to the music and as such Sutherland’s delivery works more as an instrument, the varying textures of his voice mean that how he sings is more important than the words themselves.
Arcade Fire are an obvious but relevant touchstone and there are hints of British Sea Power’s epic sweep, not least in early single ‘If The News Makes You Sad…’, Sutherland this time finding a real depth of ire to unleash upon a backdrop that is slightly harsher and more up-tempo than much of the record before a slower, ornate coda closes the track in style.
The only complaint is that the record trails off slightly with the Beirut influenced of ‘If Eilert Loevborg Wrote A Song It would Sound Like This’ and ‘A Good Reason’. Both feature somewhat forced Balkan-isms, are unwieldy in name and execution and leave the band in danger of sounding like Gogol Bordello.
These are minor quibbles when placed next to gems such as ‘A Promise’, which shifts from stately piano twinkles to a cataclysmic wall of orchestral noise which sounds like the end of everything in the best possible way and is pretty life affirming stuff.
It seems that with Bat For Lashes and now Broken Records releasing two of 2009′s best albums so far that British music is once again something to be proud of. While for the last few years those of more discerning tastes have instinctively looked to the US let’s hope the that the next wave of home-grown successes aim to satisfy a musical ambition ahead of fame and fortune.
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I’ve yet to make my mind up about these lot…
i still haven’t made it all the way through the album in one sitting.
utter drivel.
Well I’ve made it all the way through the album, about 100 times and it is one of the best debuts I’ve heard in ages. Great to hear some decent Scottish music for a change.
decent scottish music for a change?? are you kidding me man.. there are more amazing bands coming out of scotland at the moment than i have fingers and toes!
copy haho, frightened rabbit, twilight sad, my latest novel, camera obscura, there will be fireworks, we were promised jetpacks – to name just a few.
This is a really good album. Well worth all the many accolades they are receiving.
The Second Hand Marching Band…
my favourite Scottish band of late.
Erm…to whoever said that about the Scottish music scene:
http://www.scotsman.com/undertheradarblog
There Will Be Fireworks’ debut LP is a work of absolute genius, by the way.
Much better than what I’ve heard of of Frightened Rabbit I’d say Thanester, but yup there are plenty of really good scottish bands as any fule know.
@billy – isn’t it!
nicky sent me a copy weeks ago and it’s just astounding. can’t believe they have no deal at the moment. craziness.
Got handed a copy of this a few weeks back and agree its a decent record from a promising Scottish band, though it does ‘dip’ slightly, which is a shame, just got to hope the band iron out the creases so to speak. Ah well ‘Wolves’ is still beautiful.
@Rich – keep an eye out on our blog. We’ve got a lot of pre-album material on TWBF coming up.