2019-07-01_Uncut_UK

26 • uNCuT• juLY 2019

THE CATENARY WIRES

Til The Morning

TA P E T E

7/10

Bedroommini-symphoniesby

Englishindielegends

On their second album,

The Catenary Wires’

Amelia Fletcher and Rob

Pursey have amplified

the his’n’hers melancholy

of their debut, 2015’s Red

Red Skies, the pop classicism at their heart

sketched in brighter colours and deeper

hues, rich and resonant. You can still

hear trace elements of the duo’s past in

independent pop – they were members of

Talulah Gosh and Heavenly, after all – the

common thread is an unvarnished honesty

in performance, echoed by lyrics that speak

plainly and clearly of quotidian experience.

But in its own way, it’s also quietly ambitious

pop music: Spector for the suburbs.

JON DALE

CAVE I N

Final Transmission

HYdRA HEAd

8/10

Tragedyyieldsuncommonlypowerful

resultsforBostonalt.metalact

A Boston band that had

shifted from Slint-inspired

post-hardcore to a varied

but still bruising brand

of alt.metal, Cave In had

begun developing material

for their first album since 2011’s White Silence

when bassist Caleb Scofield died in a car

crash in 2018. The extent of his bandmates’

shock and grief is palpable throughout the

eight songs they built up from the demos

recorded with Scofield. (The album opens

with a ninth, a delicate acoustic fragment

in a voice memo Scofield sent the band the

night he died.) All that sadness and fury adds

further levels of turbulence both to the more

melodic likes of “Winter Window” as well as

“Led To The Wolves”, a sludgier assault that

brings Final Transmission to a compelling

close. JASON ANDERSON

CRuMB

jinx

CRuMB RECoRdS

7/10

Brooklynpsych-popupstartsknow

howtoshimmerandshine

A four-piece formed by

students at Boston’s Tufts

University who’ve released

two hazily gorgeous EPs,

Crumb are set to earn more

blogger love by delivering

a debut album that could scarcely be more

on trend for an indie act based in Brooklyn.

That means 11 bewitching songs that evoke

late-aughts hypnagogic pop, Mac DeMarco’s

dreamiest ballads, and a badly warped

cassette of ’80s-vintage dinner jazz. However,

there are many more unexpected elements

in Crumb’s languid psych-pop emanations,

the best being the dry humour evident in

Lila Ramani’s lyrics and Astrud-Gilberto-on-

Ambien delivery, as well as Brian Aronow’s

knack for synthesiser tones that are so wrong,

they’re exactly right for Crumb’s endearingly

wobbly songs. JASON ANDERSON

americanaround-up

americana

Country,bluegrass,folk& more

new albums

Freshfromscoopinga GrammyforMy

Way, hisrecentcollectionofSinatra

standards,willienelsonreturnsin June

withRideMeBackHomeSoNYLEgACY. It’sa

reflectivesetfeaturinga smallcropofnew

songs,co-writtenwithlongtime

producerBuddyCannon,balanced

bycoversofBillyJoel(“Justthe

WayYouAre”),GuyClark

(“ImmigrantEyes”and“My

FavouritePictureOfYou”)

andMacDavis(“It’sHardTo

BeHumble”,withsonsLukasand

MicahNelson).Intriguingly,too,

Nelsonreworkshisown“Stay

AwayFromLonelyPlaces”,

initiallycutin 1972.Nelsonis

alsoamongthestarrycast

onrodneycrowell’sTexa s,

whichseesthesinger-

songwriterreturntohisLoneStarroots.

OtherguestsincludeBillyGibbons,LeeAnn

Womack,SteveEarle,RingoStarrandLyle

Lovett.Duein AugustonhisownRC1

imprint,it coincideswithCrowell’sinduction

intotheTexasCountryMusicHallofFame.

“Forthelastfewyears,I’dbeenwriting

Texas-centricsongsandrevisiting

someofmytunesfromasfarback

asthemid-’70s,”hesaysoftheLP’s

genesis.“LastyearI startedreferring

tothecollectionofsongsastheTexas

album.”Expectcowboyballads,bluff

rockersanda littlehonky-tonk.Before

that,it’snottoolatetocatchHayes

carll, promotinghisfinelywrought

WhatIt Is, asheswingsthrough

theUKduringMay,finishingat

London’sOMEARAon

May22.ROBHugHES

SAM BEAM and the Calexico

pairing of Joey Burns and John

Convertino always meant to

get back together after 2005’s

joint EP “In The Reins”. Burns

appeared on Iron & Wine’s

rapturous 2007 LP The Shepherd’s Dog, with

Beam later repaying the favour by singing on a

couple of Calexico albums. There was the odd

festival meet-up too, but it wasn’t until late last

year that both parties finally reunited in earnest.

Unlike “In The Reins”, on which Calexico

essentially served as Beam’s backing band,

Years To Burn is a much truer collaboration.

Recorded at Sound Emporium, Cowboy Jack

Clement’s old place in Nashville, there’s a roving,

exploratory feel to the best songs here. The

punningly titled “The Bitter Suite” is the album’s

notional centrepiece, a three-piece movement in

which trumpeter Jacob Valenzuela turns an Iron

& Wine lyric into a Spanish lullaby before it slips

into a loose blues groove that fades into Beam’s

gentle meditation on acoustic guitar.

It’s all deftly constructed and beautifully

realised. And props to steel guitarist Paul

Niehaus, piano player Rob Burger and bassist

Sebastian Steinberg – who make up the rest

of the studio ensemble here – for making a

virtue of understatement. Similarly, the

improvised “Outside El Paso” takes Convertino’s

adopted border-town home as inspiration for

an abstract instrumental that changes moods

like the weather.

Some songs tend to play it safer, lessening

their impact in the process. Both “What

Heaven’s Left” and “Follow The Water”, for

instance, sound like Beam in full Iron & Wine

mode, wrapping his signature chords in warm

arrangements and feathery harmonies. Closing

effort “In Your Own Time” is more effective in

shared company. An early Beam demo dating

back nearly 20 years, the revamp finds him

and Burns swapping lead vocals on a sinuous

country blues with added tejano flavour.

Notwithstanding Beam’s earthy lyric – “Smoke

like a freight train/And fuck like a dog” – it’s

essentially an ode to companionship and

making the best of opportunity. And a fitting

way to bow out of this genial alliance.

ROB HugHES

CALExICo ANd IRoN & WINE

Years To Burn

CITY SLANg

7/1 0

Americana heavyweights make good on an old promise

PIPER FERGUSION, PAMELASPRINGSTEEN