feargus-blog1 - Tumblr blog

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Sometimes i'm so romantic, I think i can marry myself

Mike Wazowski

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Waldo Jefferson had reached his limit

The Velvet Underground - The Gift (White Light/White Heat)

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thank you if you showed love and read my previous review. i am working on reviewing Father John Misty's latest effort 'Pure Comedy' next xx

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Blaenavon - That's Your Lot ALBUM REVIEW

Blaenavon caught my eye on numerous social medias, with a fairly strong fanbase that shared my taste and an aesthetic that matched my own. I had a gander, and upon first listen of their debut album (That’s Your Lot), they were not as I expected. What I got was a fairly artsy and mature approach to an indie rock album. The opening track ‘Take Care’ showed me a tight, warm and arpeggio based guitar style, reminiscent of some of Television’s work, in contrast with bright and jangly guitar leads, as in the chorus of ‘Prague ‘99’. The warbling vocals are not dissimilar of Jeff Buckley’s. I continued my listen in anticipation of a more left field sound like this throughout.

Where the album gets loud, noisy and heavy is where it shines. Cuts like ‘I Will Be The World’ and ‘Ode To Joe’ show breaks of Sonic Youth chaos in their climax with whirly, overdriven guitar used. It sounds like liquid gold. The group work well together in performance as well; as the song ‘Alice Come Home’ builds up, the trios guitar, bass and drums come together perfectly in a rapid fit of noise. They even work some ambience in to the end of this piece here, but it wasn’t executed in the best way possible, and simply sounds, texturally, a bit loose.

However, this is where my praise of this album has to stop. As I listened through again and again, none of the album was sticking in my head. The songwriting on each track was bland and repetitive, leaving me naught to remember. This paired with the same guitar work throughout and falsetto singing that became somewhat irritating turned me off from the record a little bit. Interesting vocal melodies made its way through here and there, like on the hooks for ‘Orthodox Man’ and ‘I Will Be The World’. The only point the band show some difference in sound is with ‘Lonely Side’s’ funky guitar, bass grooves and sweet keys in between. The piano ballad 'Let Me See What Happens Next’ acts as a change of pace, but just slows the album down in actual fact. Apart from the climax in 'Prague '99’ where the frontman is next to screaming the lyrics towards the end, I hear no emotion in the music of Blaenavon…

Despite what is clearly missing, I did like my listen. The dark tone on the song 'Ode To Joe’, which I rather enjoyed, shows me they could improve their songwriting and sound in future. Grandiose tracks like 'Swans’ could have been more grand in sound, yet it dragged through eight minutes, possibly the most boring point on the album. Although this may not be the most standout debut rock album of a young new band, I look forward to where the band reach next, since they clearly have much room to experiment on 'That’s Your Lot’.

6/10

Favourite Tracks: Lonely Side, Ode To Joe

Least Favourite Tracks: My Bark Is Your Bite, Swans

Transgressive Records // 2017 // Indie Rock

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reviewing the new Blaenavon, will be up later today xx