Up C Down C - Embers
Quite a while ago one Mr Daniel Salter and I headed down to The Windmill in Brixton and witnessed a performance by Up C Down C Right C Left C ABC...Start. My opinion at the time was 'pretentious twats, with their trendy haircuts. Where's the bar?'
And so it is with much trepidation and a little uneasiness that I opened the little package that plopped in front of me on my desk this week. I just don't have the time to waste yet another 60 minutes on a bland and boring post rock album.... I lie, I actually have plenty of time to do this, as I have less close friends than a fan of The Feeling! Anyway on to the actual album......
‘Embers And Ashes’ is a pointless waste of 47 seconds of my life, all atmospheric noise which leaves me yearning to reach for the off switch, but I am strong and summon up the strength to persevere on to ‘Get To The Chopper’. 'Here we go' I think, 'same old, same old, post rock' – however, shame on me for being so quick to judge. It develops into something that's got some real nuts to it, with some resoundingly heavy riffage and beautifully treated guitars. Even the most dedicated slipper wearers will be dusting off the air guitar to this little slice of heaven (also see ‘Fireflies’ towards the end of the album for more bowel quaking heaviosity). Subtle percussion behind the grinding bass sound and some spacey synth sounds that creep into the peripheral sound, all add up to make a formidable experience.
‘Our Flowers’ continues the climb in quality, featuring delicate harmonics, glockenspiel and acoustic guitar. It's soft and gentle with an air of Smashing Pumpkins' ‘Blew Away’. It grows and grows adding layers of distorted guitar and strings until it crashes to a euphoric finale.
‘Murmurs prt 2’ is a bit like a more exploratory Explosions and has me swaying like I'm at the last night of the proms. It's just got the most gorgeous of melodies so that you never want it to end. The closest comparison would be Sigur Ros without the whale song, whilst ‘The Creeping Fear’ delves into the darkest of corners and even dips a toe in the murky gloom that is GY!BE territory.
The last comparison is for ‘Mcdoomish’ where they take the sound of the first Oceansize album, subtract the wannabe Mike Patton wanky vocals and leave us with something quite sublime, especially at the end when it breaks down into a folky work out. And it is this that depicts what's so great about the album - It's taken a plethora of sounds associated with post rock and added them all together, but without it ever feeling anything but cohesive.
Ok, there are some weak moments ‘Murmurs prt 1’ and ‘Cascades’ could be an Explosions tribute act plus the drumming finale to ‘Cascades’ loses its impact on record and just resembles Paul Simon's percussion section having a bit of a party.
So what's come out of the mix then? Well, I'm having to juggle around my provisional end of year top ten a little bit that's for sure. It also proves that there are darker and more mysterious things to come out of Chatham, than girls with canyons for vaginas (although they are pretty dank and treacherous) and boys with highlights. It almost sounds as though someone has answered our prayers and provided us with a new AND interesting post rock album. Good work lads and keep it coming!
Top Tracks :'Get To The Chopper', 'Fireflies, ‘Mcdoomish’'.
Released 06/10/2008 on Tap n Tin