Hatchy finds the view from the cliffs to be unimpressive
Publisher: Shock Records
Tue, 9 May 2006
by: Hatchy
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The Guillemots have been touted by some in the business as being the next big thing to happen in the UK Indie music scene. Whether they can rise from the ashes of the late 90's brit-pop explosion remains to be seen, their new release, From the Cliffs, (mainly a re-released combination of earlier work) doesn't convince me this is the breakthrough everyone is looking for. It's not that they aren't any good, far from it actually, they are very talented and their music is quite complex. But there are numerous rough edges and sometimes the music is just too layered. It leaves you wondering whether, perhaps, they are trying too hard.
Skip the first tune if you want to get to the best song on the album, Trains to Brazil. This is a fast and up-tempo track interwoven with whistles and some bizarre sound effects. It's done pretty well. There is some mild political commentary in the lyrics but it's mostly just a song about love, life and other like-minded musings. The trumpet playing sounds remarkably like something from an old Van Morrison song. Made up Lovesong #43 is one of the albums more gooey love songs. It is very diverse and features numerous instruments as the song builds towards the conclusion. Lyrically it can be found a bit wanting though, as love songs are very difficult to write and the avoidance of clichés and overtly romantic platitudes can be difficult to avoid.
If there is ever an example of why a pop/indie song should not go for a long time I will forever advise listening to Go Away. The title itself may be a subtle hint! It's 7 minutes and 46 seconds of a pop song that should have been capped at 3 minutes. The end of the song is rounded out by a cacophony of different sounding instruments all going off like a bunch of high school kids that just broke into the music room. And yes, there are screams and people yelling while it is happening as well. It's just too sporadic, there is so much sound in this song it can be exhausting to listen to the first few times. It's not the longest track though, that is reserved for Stairs. This is quite a haunting song, the bridge of it explodes with sparkling notes ripping you from the mood it has created before eventually descending back into the brooding melancholy that it opened with. At 9 minutes, it's longer than Go Away, yet it is better. But it could still stand to lose a minute or two off the ending.
Sake the first song and Chosen, the last song, are both very slow piano songs. I quite enjoyed them for their simplicity and the singers nice falsetto voice that accompanies them. This symmetry helps to bring some balance to a release that is otherwise scattered and fragmented. You could surmise that a minimalist approach works well for the Guillemots, if anything it suits the singers voice quite well.
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There is enough evidence in From the Cliffs to suggest that The Guillemots have the potential, musical nous and ability to create some very good music. They just need to work at refining it. Sometimes it can be wonderfully fragile, transcending from delicate chaos to haunting fluid waves in a single key change. Other times you just wish the current song would end as it's giving you a headache.
You could describe their sound as a combination of Radiohead, Blur, Coldplay and any other UK indie band from the last 10 years, with some obvious twists of their own, which is not a bad thing. They have demonstrated that they are adept at utilizing a variety of instruments, which, while impressive, goes against the grain of what radio-friendly indie/pop music is.
This style of music is defined by its simplicity, if you want to step outside the norm, you really need to produce something special. On this criteria alone, From the Cliffs does not achieve this. However if you like your indie/pop music with a UK flavor and a bit of a twist, you may like it.
by: Hatchy
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