music reviews
ANOHNI AND THE JOHNSONS My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross (Rough Trade)
AAAA
Trying to pin down exactly how this album fits into Anohni’s body of work to date is tricky. It’s her first album accompanied by The Johnsons since 2010, though the band are mostly new and UK-based; musically, there’s a retreat from the digitalisms of Anohni’s mid- 2010s solo releases in favour of a sound that’s both lush and spartan, echoing 70s soul with a folky undercurrent and a little of the torch- song vulnerability that marked earlier Johnsons albums. Instrumentally, My Back Was A Bridge… is a delight, soft-focus arrangements sometimes bolstered by brass and strings – think someone like Terry Callier – and Anohni’s voice, possessing a sort of powerful frailty, rides above strikingly. Lyrically, these songs are defiant, often protesting, though couched in language more open to interpretation than 2016’s intense Drone Bomb Me single. Perhaps Anohni is best regarded as an artist in a perpetual state of reinvention.
NOEL GARDNER BLUR
The Ballad Of Darren (Parlophone) AAAA
The return of Blur began with a one-off show announcement last autumn and was followed a few months later by the revelation that this year would bring forth their ninth album and first LP in eight years. First single The Narcissist is an emotive, introspective, addictive track laced with frank lyricism and an affecting guitar riff throughout. Elsewhere, the melodic whimsy of St. Charles Square hearkens back to the landscape of 1994’s Parklife, amidst the reflective yearning of Russian Strings and the psychedelic-indie of Goodbye Albert that carries on echoes of the band’s last album, 2015’s The Magic Whip. It’s a vastly different world from the one in which Blur made themselves known 30-plus years ago, yet that’s almost part of the appeal here. The Ballad Of Darren feels triumphant and self-assured; audibly, it’s Blur as they’ve always been, but with a confidence and maturity that radiates throughout.
CHLOË EDWARDS
GRIAN CHATTEN Chaos For The Fly (Partisan) AAAAA
Scorching heat, it turns out, provides a perfect backdrop to the vision of the weary coastal town which inspired the solo debut album of Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten. His originality
through, taking us on a nine-song journey through Bob’s Casino to Fairlies and All Of The People, and features a much more mellow and melancholic sound compared to his work with Fontaines DC. Accompaniments of instrumental interludes offer a unique and tantalising fusion. Embarking on a debut solo album while still part of a band could
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be viewed as a brave move on Chatten’s part, but one that’s explained as riding a wave alone rather than making the band sing to his tune, which is a noble initiative. Much like a short story collection, each track is different, but the storytelling thread offers similarities associated with the writer. A visceral, deep and inspiring album.
RHIANON HOLLEY
JAMES AND THE COLD GUN All The Wrong Places (Loosegroove) AAAAA
There’s absolutely no doubt that Cardiff’s own James And The Cold Gun have been the UK band to watch over the last 18 months. A slew of singles and a never-ending touring schedule, as well as support slots with Pearl Jam no less and an upcoming slot with rock royalty Guns N’ Roses, has made every rock fan stand up and take notice. Now we finally have a debut album All The Wrong Places to feast upon. In the live arena, there are few that can match the intensity that they bring to the stage and I’m happy to report they’ve manged to bottle this energy and pour it all over the 11 tracks of rampant noughties, guitar driven rock like a whiskey fuelled fistfight between The Hives and Queens Of The Stone Age. This is the start of something very special: a massive album in every sense of the word.
CHRIS ANDREWS
MAHALIA IRL (Atlantic) AAAA
IRL is Mahalia’s first full-length release since her stellar 2019 debut Love And Compro- mise, with lead single and RAYE cowrite Terms And Conditions having set the tone. She effortlessly weaves her vocals through captivat- ing production, blend-
grasping. The likes of Watch and Want You Back are wonderfully tender whilst My Band And I feels readymade for a 00s teen romcom soundtrack in the best possible
recent single Lost The Breakup that proves the most fun, though, albeit the song where Peters’ Swift influences are on fullest display.
way. It’s JOSHUA WILLIAMS
NITA STRAUSS The Call Of The Void (Sumerian) AAAA
Fourteen new tracks from American hard rock guitarist Nita Strauss uphold her nickname, ‘The Hurricane’, and make it clear she can more than hold her own in the company of the world’s most esteemed guitar players. Nine songs on The Call Of The Void feature guest vocalists (the remainder being trademark Strauss instrumentals): the vocals of Disturbed’s David Draiman bellow through on Dead Inside, while the unmistakable pipes of Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale fly high on Through The Noise; Strauss is also lent a helping hand by bandmate and frontman Alice Cooper on the piercing Winner Takes All. It’s easy to get lost in the vocals at times, but when you hone in on the musicianship on display, it’s nigh-on faultless. Already a stalwart of Alice Cooper’s band and more recently Demi Lovato’s setup, Nita Strauss is becoming one of the most in-demand guitarists on the planet.
OWEN SCOURFIELD
PJ HARVEY I Inside The Old Year Dying (Partisan) AAAA
ing elements of soul, alternative, and contempo- rary r’n’b to create a sound that’s undeniably her own. A collection of tracks that showcase Ma- halia’s growth and maturity as an artist, the en- chantingly mellow November among them: here, guest vocalist Stormzy’s soft vocals complement Mahalia’s, elevating the song to greater heights. Mahalia’s strength lies in her ability to craft raw and relatable narratives around the complexities of love and relationships: each track on IRL re- veals a unique facet of these themes, and Mahalia does not shy away from exploring the nuances and challenges they present. What sets IRL apart is its authenticity and genuine emotional depth, Mahalia fearlessly delving into her own experi- ences and emotions.
JOHN EVANS
MAISIE PETERS The Good Witch (Warner Music) AAAA
It’s been a very fun few years for Maisie Peters. The 23-year-old has played stadiums around the world supporting Ed Sheeran while also fitting in her own headline tours (including a recent stop in Cardiff) and is now about to release her really very good second album, The Good Witch. From the outside, it’d be easy to write off Peters as another Taylor Swift wannabe, but on the inside that would be a stupid move as Peters’ songwriting on The Good Witch shows a maturity and pop sensibility that some acts go years without
The further and further away we get from PJ Harvey’s 2007 album White Chalk, the more that LP seems to signify a complete shift in her work, a clean before-and-after in her discography. Before: earthy, grungy alternative rock, hewing close to the defining mood of that era. After: ethereal, intangible tones, with whispers of folk and blues but pulled away from contemporary time. It’s a move that has served to push her music away from the zeitgeist, but into a more rewarding songwriter. I Inside The Old Year Dying grew out of improvisation, and you can feel that wispy, off-the-cuff feel in the song structures, which sometimes lack grounding but make up for it with a fantastic atmos, drenched in reverb as if recorded in a church; the repetition of tracks like Prayer At The Gate and A Child’s Question, August emerging from what sounds like a distorted historical memory.
FEDOR TOT
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