Ten years after the release of The Decline of British Sea Power, Adam Nelson catches up with Martin Noble to discuss the band’s unique career to date.
Adam Nelson
Mire Kay – A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats
Though the instrumentation is sparse and evokes the melancholy silence of winter, the band’s approach to their music is filled with warmth. A victory, just about, for hope, in the battle between beauty and despair.
Kurt Vile: “Everything’s an influence”
We catch up with the Best Fit favourite to talk about family life, growing up and the creation of new record Walking On A Pretty Daze.
Boduf Songs – Burnt Up On Re-Entry
Less concerned with building tension and atmosphere than before, Burnt Up… is an exercise in relative directness, where songs take precedence over the work as a whole.
The Twilight Sad – No One Can Ever Know: The Remixes
That a whole disc of remixes is now even possible is demonstrative of where the band have changed over their short career so far. A listenable, if ultimately superfluous, diversion.
Pinback – Information Retrieved
It is not often that you hope a band will stop playing to their strengths, but Information Retrieved leaves Pinback needing to do something unpredictable.
Field Music – Play…..
This covers album might be an indulgence, but Field Music are a band that thoroughly deserve to indulge themselves for a while. It is a treat for the fans, and a love-letter to the Brewis’ influences, to music itself.
Band of Horses – Mirage Rock
Band of Horses take a turn towards the low-key and produce their most elegant sounding album yet.
Wild Nothing – Nocturne
Although just about all the songs here demonstrate Tatum’s immense talent, this is more a necessary album in his progression as an artist than a great one.
Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel…
Whether it is ugly or beautiful, Apple is determined to shun the generic and share with us something personal. Never has that been truer than on The Idler Wheel.
Hood – Recollected
Over the course of seven albums and eleven years, Hood’s music was in a state of almost constant evolution — from their early lo-fi years through to the IDM-inspired glitch-pop of their final two albums, via a brief spell as post-rock innovators — but their inspiration remained stable: the desolate and fractured environments of their Yorkshire home.
Shearwater – Winged Life (Vinyl Reissue)
This reissue of the 2004 album from ostensible Okkervil River side-project represents the opportunity to hear one of the best bands of recent years at a crucial stage in their development.