music reviews


ADWAITH Bato Mato (Libertino) AAAA


For a group pitched for fans of Siouxsie & The Banshees,


and The Breeders, and who were awarded the Welsh Music Prize in 2019, the prospect of releasing the ‘difficult second album’ could understandably be true. With Bato Mato, Adwaith needn’t worry. The trio bring forth their second (Welsh-language) LP, a record influenced by journeys navigating adulthood – beyond their native Carmarthen, even aboard the Trans-Si- berian Express. This is an album reminiscent of Boy Azooga and The Orielles, with a sound that captures a group daring and achieving to capture both intimacy and self-assurance. Early tracks Cuddio and Sudd are slick, postpunk-in- fused opening hooks, whilst Nid Aur picks up the pace before the striking bassline of Oren paves the way for the album’s closer. The brilliant, dreamy, amped-up shoegaze of Eto garnered at- tention from Huw Stephens on BBC 6 Music in the spring, and likely ensured many will spend summer playing this album.


Gwenno CHLOË EDWARDS


… AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD


XI: Bleed Here Now (InsideOutMusic) AA


Penned by frontman Conrad Keely, the bio for … And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead’s 11th album sets alarm bells ringing. Bleed Here Now was conceived during the pandemic, un- der “absolutely no pressure from absolutely no- body”. Unfortunately, you suspect the US band benefit from a label boss breathing down their neck at all times. The title of the first track, Our Epic Attempts, is an apt description of much of the group’s discography. Sadly, the title of the second, Long Distance Hell, would be equally appropriate for this latest effort: an exhausting 21 songs, wildly varying in style and quality. No Confidence: unconvincing foot-on-monitor metal. Kill Everyone: pointless brat-punk blast. Growing Divide: flat finger-pickin’ folk. Taken By The Hand: a big hollow gesture at the record’s centre. And bear in mind that these are among the best tracks. Trail Of Dead’s heart remains in the right place, but this is almost all wrong.


BEN WOOLHEAD BEABADOOBEE


Beatopia is the second album from Philip- pines-born Londoner Bea Kristi, aka Beaba- doobee. Hailed as a lu- minary for Gen Z after her widely-acclaimed debut, the secret to her success is making music that’s at once nostalgic and current:


Beatopia (Dirty Hit) AAAAA


everything to do. A youth icon she may be, but Beabadoobee’s ingenuity and honesty transcends demographics. After tinkling opener Beatopia Cultsong – sounding like an orchestra warming up before a symphony – the album is a little slow to pick up, but once the unexpectedly bossa no- va-esque The Perfect Pair kicks in, it’s a steady stream of melted gold: warm, rich, gleaming and perfect for summer.


HANNAH COLLINS


ELLA FITZGERALD Ella At The Hollywood Bowl: The


Irving Berlin Songbook (Verve) AAAAA This


1958 marks the only time Ella Fitzgerald per- formed these particular arrangements with a full orchestra. Conducted and arranged by Paul Weston, the show took place not long after Ella recorded her now-classic album …Sings The Irving Berlin Songbook. Expect, then, classics like Cheek To Cheek, Let’s Face The Music And Dance, and Puttin’ On The Ritz; the latter is accompanied by Alberto Baroni’s animated video, bringing both the song and Giula Pelizza- ro’s dynamic album art to life. Towards the end of Puttin’ On The Ritz, too, Ella can be heard saying “I screwed that one up, ha ha!” referring to a melody she had changed: her unique charm, honesty and energy are palpable throughout the whole live album. At The Hollywood Bowl is rounded out with insightful, scru- pulous notes about the concert and Ella’s Songbook series by author and critic Will Friedwald.


never-before-released live album from JOHN EVANS MABEL


About Last Night (Polydor) AAA


Half a decade after her breakthrough sin- gle Finders Keepers, you can understand why English-Swedish singer Mabel asked her followers, “Al- low me to reintroduce myself,”


released About before


Night’s lead single, Let Them Know. After a clutch of hit singles over the last five years, this is only her second album proper – and it’s an album that works hard to establish Mabel as a major new force in Brit- ish pop. There’s even a concept, complete with introduction and an interlude, centred around the loose idea of going out-out for a night, meeting a man and… well, you can guess the rest. But there’s little here to set Mabel apart from the likes of Charli XCX or raise her to the Dua Lipa-like level she’s aiming for. It’s not until the album closer that Mabel sounds fresh and individual on LOL – a worth-the-wait kiss-off for a night you’d rather forget.


Last JOHN-PAUL DAVIES


NEIL YOUNG AND CRAZY HORSE


raiding the jangling hooks, echoing soundscapes and grungy riffs of 90s alt-rock to sieve through her own patchwork prism of wistful urgency. Beatopia is, accordingly, a singular vision of shimmering indie-pop while also soundtrack- ing every time you lay on your bed as a teen- ager both anxious and content with nothing yet


Toast (Reprise) AAAAA


In 2001, Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse recorded Toast but declared it too sad to release – until now. Toast is about a relationship breakup and the opening track, Quit, is a drum-heavy, slow anti-love song that I hoped wouldn’t set the tone for the whole album. It doesn’t – five minutes later Standing In The Light Of Love,


she


which Young describes as “sort of like a Deep Purple hit,” takes off with a blast and we’re once again rockin’ in the free world. Toast has many shades of light and dark with echoes of funk and a Native American-influenced sound, and in- deed the riff on the 13-minute-long Boom Boom Boom is oddly reminiscent of Smoke On The Water. At first this for- gotten album doesn’t seem as dynamic as Young’s earlier work, but these songs have several layers that grow deeper with each replay – and, as usual, his guitar playing is in- comparable.


LYNDA NASH NICK CAVE


Seven Psalms (Cave Things) AAAA


Cave has been posi- tioning himself as the next Leonard Cohen for some time now, with his similarly el- oquent and spiritual- ly affecting lyricism filling the gap left by one of his greatest in- fluences. With Seven Psalms, Cave almost


goes a step beyond Cohen with a collection of spoken word pieces ruminating on faith, rage, love, grief, mercy, sex and praise. Accompa- niment comes from Cave’s closest Bad Seeds collaborator, Warren Ellis, who conjures up the ambient soundscape of their film music compo- sitions, but how much you enjoy the album will depend on how much you love Cave’s lyrics and speaking voice. The seven psalms of the title, all around two minutes in length and written over a week in lockdown, don’t outstay their welcome and the tone is personal and introspective. A beautiful iteration of Cave’s maxim, “it doesn’t matter if God exists or not – we should reach as if he does.”


JOHN-PAUL DAVIES


ROBIN CAROLAN & SEBASTIAN GAINSBOROUGH


The Northman OST (Sacred Bones) AAAAA


For Robert Eggers’ latest pagan celluloid ram- page, he has enlisted a duo who share his love of pushing the envelope and a taste for the avant-gar- de. Sebastian Gainsborough (aka electronic pro- ducer Vessel) joins forces with Tri Angle label boss Robin Carolan to create a whopping beast of a soundtrack. As challenging as this music can sometimes be, it certainly succeeds in matching the film’s blood-soaked visuals blow for epic blow. There is an argument to be made – and I’m making it – that while the score perfectly com- plements the frenzied action on screen, it may be even better consumed as a stand-alone work in its own right. The startling sound of a war horn bellowing at the beginning of The King or the descent into madness that is Mound Dwell- er are visceral thrills that, divorced from competing


are only enhanced by one’s imagination. A truly remarkable aural journey.


visuals, ADAM JONES


More music reviews at: buzzmag.co.uk


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