Review:

on 2011-03-13 CharlesMartel Said:

Of all the albums I bought in January of this year, this one has proved the most difficult to get some sort of grip on. Having recently moved house, and with most of my stuff still in boxes while the redecoration has been going on, I have been unable to put this on a CD player and give it the proper listen that it deserves. That has confined me to listening to it through the wires of an iPod, usually on a busy tube which is not at all conducive to appreciating the softer sides of this album. Today, I finally got to listen to the whole album from start to finish in relative peace and quiet.

This change in listening environment is essential to garner a proper appreciation of the album. Like many, I suspect, disappointment was my first reaction. It is not, on any level, the easiest one to get into, but patience will reward the listener with some often stunning insights. The first thing which you notice is the quality of the lyrics. These are drawn from the wellspring of true emotionally charged lyrics as Dylan and Scott, to name but two. The lyrics themselves are complemented by the way in which they are delivered; the music brims with emotion and even pride. The combination results in possibly some of the finest lyrical performances this century (so far) - the Weakerthans excepted.

The opener, "Little Bear" sets the scene and while it does not provide the lift-off which comes later, delivers on the combination of quiet, almost introspective music, and lyrical-vocal quality. This approach culminates with "Redwings", the simple beauty of "Blue Would Still Be Blue" and my personal favourite, "If the World Ends", a superb love song to those facing the end of the world.

The more upbeat tracks, such as "Trains to Brazil" and "Annie Let's Not Wait" are more conventional in their style, and will attract whatever radio attention is ever directed at the Guillemots (in the UK - virtually none at all. If you can't 'shake your funky booty' to it, it will not get anywhere near commercial radio here). However, in some ways those tracks are the weakest on the album - the Guillemots are at their best when they are not trying to rock.

However, the combination of the two types of track - slower and thoughtful and slightly more up-tempo, provide the listener with something of a conundrum. The Guillemots seem to be a band who a wrestling with an identity crisis. The issue is what sort of band do they want to be. You get the impression on listening to it that the tracks are ones which have been written over an extended period of time and have been honed and refined to a point where the band are satisfied with them as the band has toured and gigged its way to a recording contract. I get the feeling that the Guillemots are heading for that classic second album syndrome where they are incapable of matching the promise of their debut with a solid follow up.

However, all in all, this is a good debut album which has some weaker moments, but which promises much and will deliver if you have the patience to listen to it and learn to appreciate it. Whether the band can follow this up with anything anywhere near as good is an open question, and one I feel is going to define the Guillemots for the future. At the heart of it lies the question of what sort of band the Guillemots are. At the time of writing, the jury is most definitely out on this one.
Rating: 7/10