2022 Album of the Year – // KURT VILE // (watch my moves)// album review//

2022 Album of the Year

// KURT VILE // (watch my moves)// album review//

Since hearing (Watch My Moves) by Kurt Vile in the late spring of last year it has become my go to record even surpassing great albums of 2022 such as Warmduscher ‘At The Hotspot‘, Preoccupations ‘Arrangements’ and Dubwar ‘Westgate Under Fire’. I am as familiar with this album already as I am with classic albums released decades ago that have become the score of my life.

After Fleet Foxes released ‘Shore’ in late 2020 I couldn’t quite envisage a record of equal beauty and of a similar painful optimism following so soon after. Yet, I am bewildered by the pure honesty and cerebral soul oozing from Kurt Vile’s latest record. (Watch my Moves) was released on Matador records on April 14th 2022, the day he discovered new realms of possibility.

Over the last few years Kurt Vile’s quality of output has more or less followed the upward curve of his growing popularity since Crack magazine amongst others placed ‘Walking on a Pretty Day’ as their album of the year in 2013 – steady. It is remarkable and clear that the clarity of atmosphere in his songwriting and formation has emerged progressively since his excellent break through album ‘Smoke Ring for My Halo’ in 2011. That opaque and smokey backdrop in his tight, cautious mysticality has now dissipated to reveal the true musical and emotional talents of the man.

The dreamy journey begins in a gracious and life affirming way and that is a defining feature of the whole album. By his own admission in the opening track Goin On A Plane Today Vile celebrates how fortunate he has become “Listening to ‘heart of gold’ Gonna open up for Neil Young, man life sure can be fun”. One cannot ignore the references periodically scattered around the record to the new found sense of freedom that all of us feel and the affect forced isolation has had on our mental states, like so many other albums released since the beginning of the Covid Pandemic. Here the novelty of something as everyday as going on a plane seems a treat.

Another obvious theme littering (Watch My Moves) is Kurt Vile’s nostalgic longing to revert to the simpler days of his childhood. His lyrics and narrated monologue display a pure innocence without any hint of being cutesy or cliched, instead they reveal his vulnerabilities and sometimes infantile playfulness, their charming innocence are nothing but endearing. He reveals that his “Manhood compromised – Watch me shrinking back into a little kid”. Following this there will be references to Lemonade, Pinball machines, a Stuffed Leopard (the final song on the album), Fantasies of flying, skateboards and teapots singing.

Perhaps the album sleeve cover tells us all that we need to be able to decipher the inspiration for the making of this record. He is sat lovingly clutching his two daughters sat either side of him. For all of the social and mental trauma the social animal has suffered in the last two years, it cannot be denied that some of us have slowed down and concentrated on what is really important in life. A loving family! and Kurt Vile certainly gives the impression of a doting father and family man.

The first single from the album – Flyin (Like a Fast Train) realises acid flashbacks and burn out exhaustion but in the lyric – “cooped up creature of discomfort can’t touch a thing” – it is as if he would go back to the pre-pandemic days in an instant. Any sense of pained struggle is camouflaged however by the ever present beauty of the dimensions Vile engineers through his horizontal song structures, lucid guitars and mastery of the synthesizer. We are all safe in his hands no matter what is going on outside.

The dream scape atmosphere is enhanced by Palace of OKV in Reverse as Vile’s over produced narration glides along the heavily synthesised, backwards recording. Something bands such as White denim have done with great success. That commentary of feelings both physical and mental, musical techniques and cerebral imperfection are best demonstrated in the spell binding Like Exploding Stones. Kurt Vile practically hands us his present vulnerable psyche on a plate as he jumps straight in to our trusting arms. He inspires us by freely laying all of his self doubts on the line yet he clearly is being too hard on himself as his mastery of syllable manipulation contradicts the line “Dreamin’ of a time when everything rhymed -And i was cool, calm and collected”. This record will be his magnum opus in when Kurt Vile came of age and linked all of his copious talents in an alliterated, soaring, heart felt encyclopedia of zen poetry. Chill out with the rest of us Kurt, it rhymes.

One can’t help but submit to his infectious and innocent childlike qualities. To keep this article at a relatively readable size I will refrain from going into every line of each track but be assured I could quite easily and with glee and pleasure. Like Exploding Stones is an ultimately positive thrust despite the pains and doubts circulating in his head – “But I’m just kidding and I’m just playin’ – And this is the way I make my living – Everyday, in my mind and in real life”. That ability to step back and be grateful for what we have is arguably a human trait that may have lacked before the perspective that a global pandemic gave us, especially in our (in parts) privileged Western lives.

The heavenly Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone) repeats a xylaphone and a heart jerking subtle riff as he reinforces how he had been lost and of his battle with his own mental well-being. Hey Like A Child is a landmark in Kurt Vile’s career. Along with Over Everything that he recorded with Courtney Barnett in their critically acclaimed album Lotta Sea Lice, this track is undoubtably his greatest to date. Keeping to the theme, the song is written from a childlike perspective and the words and imagery are of a primitive and innocent viewpoint but the power comes from his rhythmical vocal and control of words and syllables as they dance and play around the delicious acoustic backdrop. This is Americana music at its very best and draws influences from Neil Young and Hank Williams (the latter to whom he pays homage to in a later track on the album – the snail paced folk lament of Cool Water). He again acknowledges his constant battle with, but his ultimate management and acceptance of; his psychological challenges and emotional torment “In the mornin’ time the glorious spring – Feel I got a handle on everything”. Surely every listener could relate to the thoughts and issues Vile illustrates so purely and candidly?

We enjoy a pair of short but atmospherically enhancing instrumentals in fine After The Goldrush style (Granted Cripple Creek Ferry & Till The Morning Comes have a vocal but they attribute similar functions as links to the overall concept and feeling). Even Jesus can’t help mankind in Jesus On A Wire. Our saviour’s mental breakdown will be cushioned by Kurt himself, apparently. It is a melody of comedic but empathetic realisation.

Kurt Vile revisits a younger Kurt in Fo Sho although not Kurt as a child. This is the distorted guitar wizard from his early records – oozing attitude and pomp that no other track on the album comes close to. Chazzy Don’t Mind mirrors the fluid reminiscence of Cool Water. Both of which demonstrate the vocal peak that Vile has reached now following his vast experimentation throughout his career. Although not a natural vocalist, his sincerity and feeling ignite his Nashville-esque folk passion, comfortably visiting scales that perhaps before he wasn’t capable of.

To rival Hey like A Child arguably Say The Word is a confirmation of how far Kurt Vile has come in such a short space of time. A driving drum beat and an ascending and descending acoustic repetition is met by a translucent layer of synth allowing Kurt Vile to delight us with some of his best recorded vocals and schizophrenic like ramblings in an awe inspiring song. After he announces -“Go” His guitar explodes in unison with the cacophony of the backing takes us to emotional heights in which again Vile fears are highlighted “When everytime I grow into a man -Chaos comin’ around the bend“.

(Watch My Moves) is just as much an exploratory journey through the ages and psyche of Kurt Vile for the listener as it it for the artist. A journey vital for every musical traveller.

// RED SKY IN MOURNING //AN INTERVIEW WIH DISJOY //

Cardiff band Disjoy have released an album containing sound content of rare violence and disorder. Red Sky imagines the forefathers of punk and in doing so reacts to the injustice of society and political farce. Speaking to Disjoy in transit to Berlin Quiffed Owl learnt that this album was inspired by a specific event that directly effected the band – one member in particular – and the ensuing struggle to cope with traumatic loss.

Disjoy are the reincarnation of their former band LUVV. Vocalist and guitarist Matt Short and bass guitarist Ben Mainwaring salvaged the ethos and back bone of LUVV when other members left. Mainwaring tells me, “for the most part we have found ourselves in this position through necessity, as members of our former band had to commit full time to their band [Chain of Flowers]. So I wouldn’t say it was a conscious choice.”

Yet from LUVV’s ashes a robust desire to succeed has forged Disjoy, and with it a profoundly different punk sound than what preceded it. Mainwaring expands by pointing out that when the four became a three piece, with a brand new drummer and Short adding to his vocal responsibilities by claiming Lead guitar, their direction was forced some what. “ I wouldn’t really say we’ve done anything differently to our former bands. Since we’ve got together we’ve always written the same way, it’s always been very raw and from the heart but I think the added influences from former members obviously added something to the songs we were writing. So I think Disjoy is just us at our most stripped down, pure and natural.”

Disjoy were in their early stages as a band when disaster struck. The album is devoted to Mainwaring’s late father who died suddenly and in tragic circumstances in 2016. It is to Mainwaring’s credit that Disjoy have even been able to carry on at all in the light of such tragedy and emotional turmoil – let alone release a record of such focussed energy.

“He [Mainwarings father] was helping a collective we were involved in to try and create a new DIY space in Cardiff when the accident happened”, Mainwaring recalls. “Red Sky is from a funny phrase he used to say to me when I was growing up. So this record is dedicated to his memory”.

Red Sky explodes from a Peter Hook like bass line, low slung and unholy. The first track and first single from the album, Divided, is an unstable and violent lament to the disenfranchised. Short spits and sneers his Carmarthenshire propaganda around a tight reoccurring rhythm, Divided is a genuinely fine punk single and the most accessible on the record. Asked about the process of writing their songs, Mainwaring explains “we usually start with a riff that Matt will come up with and bring into practice. Then we usually play along and try to arrange it as best we can”.

The records second track Control cements the direction of Red Sky: no nonsense will be tolerated here. Your ears will bleed and your heart will race. The distorted buzz and electric prayer fizzes through the track. Matt Short elaborates on the records overall anarchic tone, “there’s a lot out there that I don’t think we agree with…that factors into any darkness that we might have in our music. The political climate at the moment is a big factor in the anger and just the trials and tribulations of being a human being”.

The title track is a contradiction of classic post-punk with visions of Joy Division’s Shadowplay – yet here Disjoy introduce a paranoid and distorted anguish cloaked in hate, where rhythm section and home-made pedal samples grate against Short’s possessive shrieks. This album is designed to be heard live and that is reflected in the raw production from start to finish. This is not an easy listen – Red Sky is not sugar coated for wider accessibility. This is undiluted punk music made for punks.

Red Sky will be released by the label that Ben Mainwaring has recently founded. Pretty Hate Records will release the album on cassette and vinyl as well as an online format – this DIY approach is defining the course of alt-rock today, and as more and more alternative music venues are closing it may be the only way that people can keep alternative music alive in an increasingly main stream society.

Speaking about the threatened closure of Wales’s most iconic venue, Clwb Ifor Bach, Disjoy emphasise the vital role these small clubs have to play in nurturing and supporting new music and young musicians. “It’s hugely important that we don’t lose Womanby Street. We’ve lost a lot of venues in Cardiff & Newport (Lepub and TJ’s) over the years and I think it’s extremely important that we stop the rot before it’s too late. People need music and new bands need places to play”.

Disjoy have begun a busy live period this spring and play with, amongst others, Sarcasm, The Violent Hearts, The Wolf Hounds and Japanese outfit Melt- Banana; and along with allies such as Cardiff’s Chain Of Flowers, we can expect a continuity of  boundary prodding, raw punk coming out of Wales’ capital for the immediate promising future.

Words by Jimmy Gallagher

// Le Lendemain // After The Excitement //

The cinematic score sound is all well and good and has been used increasingly in contemporary rock and pop music. The more judgemental of us expect the exponents to be perhaps an established group branching out and exploring their musical boundaries (Radiohead circa OK Computer and beyond) or, a 5 piece rock group with unhealthy addictions to box sets and access to 22nd century technology (Mogwai). This might be true but their sound and cinema are viewed in HD.

So what does cinematic rock sound like if one guy with a fraction of the facilities and budget attempt the same? The new EP from Le Lendemain describes the answer  in a comforting epic of home video nostalgia. After The Excitement is an exhibition of warmth and emotion capturing visions of everybody’s introspection that makes this so cordially accessible.

Richard Haylock is a song writer based in North London. He committed to studying the technicalities of production and has compiled enough material for this EP and another that will follow in due course. More importantly, however, he has unearthed an organic style personal to him.

Haylock cleverly sequences the tracks enticing you in before ensnaring you entirely. Outside In daringly avoids a sickly sweet start and instead stages the set for the more atmospheric tracks to follow. The opening track gently rolls along as if unaware of the gentle string flourishes adorning the rhythm, and in the spirit of the record these are joined by momentous clashing cymbals and kinetic guitar distortion rendering a wall of passionate sound swirling to its glorious conclusion.

The second track track is the reincarnation of The Hawk Is Howling by Mogwai, yet the dense sound is the work of just one man. This track has a precise power stored like a battery and called upon when needed. Haylock has allowed Le Lendemain to take shape naturally and subsequently an organic and meteorological aura fills the record. Free of the constraints of time and outside pressure After The Excitement flows sincerely, meandering through subtly differing styles and influences but fundamentally remaining forthright.

Good As It Was is a contradiction of human chemical reaction. Its languid waltz is matched by Haylocks understated lament, his voice matches the extended organ keys and drawn out notes in no hurry to go away, instead reinforcing an eerie and beautiful confusion. His arrangements conjur images of a exhaustion and regret following elation or dare I say excitement?

Haylock somehow makes this album feel like an instrumental score despite his vocal in 3 of the 5 tracks. He displays fine production knowledge in knowing when vocals are appropriate and when they’re not, he also has complete confidence in allowing the whole composition to do the talking rather than being drawn into the compulsion to over do things or show off. In the final two tracks this is evident as Le Lendemain progresses with pulsating mystery enough to find something new on every listen and heightens the excitement for the release of the next EP – I’ve Been So Busy.

Le Lendemain -After The Excitement is available on Bandcamp, Spotify and Soundcloud.

Words by Jimmy Gallagher

 

 

 

 

 

 

// NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS // SKELETON TREE //

The sheer provocation of emotion that Skeleton Tree has to make on anyone with feelings must be tantamount to being tickled without the comforting release of laughter. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds masterpiece Skeleton Tree has drawn much discussion, attention, and acclaim but it deserves to be, it has an air of being more than a record.

Skeleton Tree is the next studio album after the brilliant Push The Sky Away in 2013.  Before the writing and recording of this album was completed, Cave’s 15 year old son fell to his death from a cliff near their home in Brighton. The album had already begun but the end consumes Skeleton Tree. Beyond our expectations of its meaning this album is a hymnal of lament and sorrow but with an undiluted feeling that is uncomfortably sombre and liberatingly free at the same time.

Do not expect catchy hooks or sing along choruses, Skeleton Tree is unbridled pain somehow constructed into song – the strongest and most deeply tormenting and heart trembling collection of songs he has made.  It isn’t obvious how this is possible at any discernible point but, like a barn owl silently sweeping over a field at dusk, we know that the light has gone. Nick Cave is the narrator of your subconscious. His commentary is of pure human emotion and he does it with so much poetic majesty, timing his wisdom each time on the right side of a precisely placed piano key or stringed chord.

Each track introduction is a composition that could be the beginning of a David Lynch movie: they build not with volume but with dramatic levitating stillness. No personal anguish could possibly distract Cave from directing our bare, naked vulnerability. One More Time With Feeling is the movie that accompanies this album; a celluloid capsule of a traumatic death made immortal art.  I don’t dare decipher the depths of despair that Cave allows us to glimpse into in both film and record, but the privilege is ours.

Any lyric you might notice or choose on any track on Skeleton Tree may beg questions of underlying meaning or contextual impact and that is the records strength. Due to the circumstances surrounding the making of the album, we cannot escape the desire to apply our own scrutiny to the lyrics, whether right or wrong – Skeleton Tree is beautifully sorrowful. His dignified refusal to make any direct reference to his sons sudden death adds to the haunting drama of this album. Suggestion and passion is more than enough.

As in Push The Sky Away the scene is created by The Bad Seeds unequivocal eye for ambient theatre. The storm is constructed like an autumn alpine evening sky, that passes through with silent rage leaving Cave high above, merciful and powerful. An unerring eeriness in Caves words cast a comparison with Bowies posthumous eulogy on Blackstar.

Rings Of Saturn is a certain proclamation of a woman, maybe his wife, the mother of Arthur. An introverted and longing awe is encouraged by a harrowing robotic crow, his articulation is confidence epitomised and you are in his care as he tells you what is happening in a dream-like state. Blackness and suffocation invades everything in relentless verse – “Like a funnel web, like a black fly on the ceiling….like a black oily gash, crawling backwards along the carpet to smash  over everything, wet black fur against the sun going down over the shops, and the cars, and the crowds and the town…”. Night has descended on each small part of Nick Caves consciousness, even his carnal existence whereby he refers to his semen as – “..spurting ink all over the sheets”. This is dark, but this is Nick Cave at his very best.

In Anthrocene, the jittery drum beats are an epileptic flashback; a battle against the virtual and surreal. He tries to bring normality to the impending danger that the enveloping production threatens.

Girl In Amber is a helpless and fatigued acceptance of fate, again with an imperfect celestial harmony that chills and delights equally. Conforming to the album’s reoccurring theme of death,  the inevitable end for all in Girl in Amber is not denied but not welcomed either. Cave seems to give up on his beliefs: “..but I don’t think that anymore, the phone, it rings no more.” Although resigned to the relative insignificance of human life, the track ends excruciatingly as his fading echo is a warning to the grim reaper – “don’t touch me”.

It is a matter of seconds into I Need You when the pain Cave is experiencing really hits, and hard. Nick Cave has never been so fragile, his desperate pain and mourning is brushed over his quivering vocal, as if trying to catch his breath between tears. This song is a magnificent tribute to Arthur. He recalls visions that are long gone or yet to take shape as his words manifest about a feminine form, his words become more pained as he moans – “Nothing really matters, nothing really matters anymore,  not even today, no matter how hard I try..”

It is all a bit too much, but just enough. Skeleton Tree is more than just an album.

Words by Jimmy Gallagher

 

// CAROL FIELDHOUSE // LINEN //

Carol Fieldhouse has released her debut album Linen, a collection of songs dressed in folk and celtic textures. Underneath the soft exterior, Linen uncovers layers of a very personal nature in what Fieldhouse herself describes as being “a private poem to myself”.

Linen is the culmination of eight years of attending various song writing workshops, one of which Fieldhouse met the producer Boo Hewerdine who was keen to produce an album for her.

“He (Hewerdine) insisted on going down to The Hub Sound Studios in Cambridge to record something with me. He asked if I wanted to play on the album as well as sing, but I was just committed to singing so as I could concentrate more on that part – so he got some people in to play (Neil MaColl, James Watson and Chris Pepper). Then shortly before we started recording Boo told me he liked the way I played on the demos and he wanted me to do both.”

Fieldhouse confronts the issue of ageing with a refreshing acceptance of the process and in the title track she celebrates the positives getting older can bring. Mildly tongue in cheek, Fieldhouse uses the physical qualities of linen and its social connotations as a reference to the relationship between the material and getting older. When writing the song, she found herself surrounded by a number of what she describes as ‘bright young things straight out of music college’ at The Dartington International Summer School of Music. Rather than feeling intimidated or overawed by her prestigious peers and settings, Fieldhouse embraced her status amongst them.

“It is a fact that once you get to a certain age you become sort of invisible.  That means you can be whoever you want to be and it gives you a sense of freedom. There is also a sense that although your exterior may become more monotone with age as it were, there is undoubtedly rich life within and it develops with ideas and confidence. I am able to express my playfulness and theatre through song, yet still behind this silver screen”.

Not only do the songs selected for the album suggest a tangible relationship with ageing but one can detect a continual elemental theme with nature. Fieldhouse points out that The Wave is inspired by a curious photograph she was introduced to on her MA song writing course, depicting an elderly lady in The Faroe Islands.

“It was inspired by a film made about The Faroes and this lady known as ‘the swimming granny’. The film highlights her grandson’s awe for her as he had never witnessed such a beautiful relationship between a person and nature. She had swam in the ocean every day since she was 30 until her 90th birthday – which she began with a swim. She identifies swimming as the main contributor to helping her recover after being unwell after the birth of her child, and beyond that shows no fear of dying in the ocean as that is ‘her health'”.

Dark River is the local name for The River Dart in Devon where Fieldhouse was sat one day during a writing workshop, and Oxygen came from a quote she read in an interview with a journalist who was kidnapped by the Taliban.

“This journalist paraphrased a quote from someone else about how life and love are like oxygen, you never know how precious they are until they are under threat. That made me think about what a friend of mine said to me. She asked why I never write about love but the truth is I always write about love, it is just that my love is of different things, like nature”.

Apart from a compassionately clipped version of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds by The Beatles, all of the songs are written by Fieldhouse and in some way pay homage to nature and her upbringing in North Derbyshire.”I am at my happiest when I write about nature and that is where my heart lies… I am much happier outside than I am enclosed in a building”.

Yet Fieldhouse does admit to enjoying her experience recording the album more than when she performs.”I love recording more than performing. It means I can put the guitar down and concentrate on singing – you aren’t distracted by one or the other and that is my way”.

Linen is a simply arranged and simply produced collection of songs that Fieldhouse wanted to do justice to – and few would argue that she hasn’t achieved that. The stripped back and light production is consistent throughout the record with no unwanted surprises lurking behind a corner. This is a minimalist folk form, involving minimal instruments thereby reducing any clutter and even with its warm imperfections it is delicately clean. This album is a charming ode to ageing and should inspire anyone with a longing to pick up a guitar and sing no matter what stage of life they find themselves.

“Although there is a certain wistfulness about doing this so late in my life there is also a great joy in starting something so exciting when so many people are not – I suppose you could say I was doing it backwards”.

Words by Jimmy Gallagher

Click to visit Carol Fieldhouse’s website

 

 

 

 

 

*** CHAIN OF FLOWERS // Chain Of Flowers // Album Review ***

Chain Of Flowers (left to right – S. Hunt, J. Smith, M. Clements, R. Clarke, D. Anderson, R. Jones)

Finally! They have released the album we have been waiting for. Too long have we listened to their phenomenal potential and watched, in awe, their tumultuous live sets but without anything to go away with to show our friends and demand they “Listen to this!”. Their self titled debut not only does Chain Of Flowers proud, but now we have hard evidence to show off and ultimately celebrate.

These six friends from Cardiff are as grounded as a band of this talent can be, they will freely admit that they are just as euphoric to see Wales qualify for Euro 2016 as they are to release this record. Patriotic but universally minded, humble but with focused ambition – Chain Of Flowers have drawn upon their vast experience and endless influences to produce a genuinely magnificent album.

Released on Alter this first album proper was painstakingly constructed over the last few years via a process of trial and error but with a collective belief of exactly what the objective was. Chain Of Flowers have not had it easy despite building something of a cult following, and not only in South Wales. Singles such as Sleep had turned heads enough for them to support the likes of Eagulls, The Fall and Ceremony on UK tours.

Continuity in the line up and the resulting trust may account for the evident assertion that Chain display on this record. At no point do they compromise their sound or musical integrity, even though this is a debut album. Chain Of Flowers is overflowing with strong characters equally passionate about the music they make and the music that helps make them.

The artwork for the new Chain Of Flowers album

Chain Of Flowers cast a vast net over the waters of music and catch punk, shoe gaze, goth, indie and low-fi to take back to shore, yet this record is unconvoluted. It does not deviate from the blue print the opening track Nail Me To You Cross plans. These are a guitar band, a loud, unsympathetic guitar band and there is no quarter given in its entirety. Lead singer Joshua Smith epitomises self belief but he is sacrificial by allowing his undoubted vocal abilities to be almost diluted in order for the trademark guitar distortion to be at the forefront and for that the production should be applauded. So to the bands united direction.

Crisis is the awesome beauty of a natural disaster, Hunt’s thrusting guitars seem to unleash a gale force wind which the rest of the band follows on a jet stream but in contrast the narration from Smith wanders in the kingdom of humanity to give it that accessible punky edge. This is the sound of a band that dismiss what is marketable, instead relishing the opportunity to be classically different.

As the record lengthens, so do the songs. Death’s Got A Hold Of Me sparks out from an I.E.D unnoticed, Jones and Hunt take turns in worsening the explosive catastrophe of noise as Smith holds the wire ensuring the helium bomb stays within the stratosphere. In Glimmers Of Joy we recognise Echo And The Bunnymen or Public Image Limited while Bury My Love sees Smith take on Julian Cope form after Clarkes untamed but reliable drums form out of a Brian Jonestown Massacre hum.

As dank as the atmosphere Chain Of Flowers create is, the soaring repetitive riffs ignore the notion of bleakness. Anderson’s bass controls the majority of Colour/Blind as tempo swaps and switches until Hunt takes the track to that cloud level once again. The scene is set for Josh Smith to bury himself into the thick fog of noise and resonate his poetry from  deep inside.

Drained restrains itself in making its own statement, Ross Jones’ part must not be under appreciated in what is the best track on the record. Suddenly everything is simplified, Jones brutal rhythm clears the floor for, first Smith to echo his sermon in a dreamy Bradford Cox like lecture; and then Hunt and Jones to clash out amongst the heavenly piano chords that linger formidably.

Chain Of Flowers prove with this album that time does wait for everyman and everyman will take time to be worth waiting for.

Buy Chain Of Flowers album on itunes now