UNKLE
THE ROAD PART II: LOST HIGHWAY
SONGS FOR THE DEFHHH
ROSE ELINOR DOUGALL
A NEW ILLUSION
VERMILLION RECORDSHHHH
Mo’Wax founder James
Lavelle’s back again with a
cameo-laden sequel to 2017’s
similarly cameo-laden fifth
studio album, except this time
it’s double the length, leading
one to wonder, since it’s the
second part of a trilogy,
whether the final instalment will
end up a triple (or even
quadruple) album. Certainly,
now that he’s creating music
again, no one could doubt
Lavelle’s earnest urge to make
every UNKLE album count, andLost Highway’s eager to show
off its heavyweight credentials,
much of it achieved through the
indulgence of Lavelle’s fixation
on veteran rockers.
You’ll therefore find two
Queens Of The Stone Age
present here, while Mark
Lanegan returns to growl, like
an anaesthetised wolf, over the
opening Requiem (When You
Talk of Love), accompanied by
none other than D:Ream’s Brian
Cox. The Cult’s Ian Astbury also
appears on Crucifixion / A
Prophet, though he’s hard to
discern, but, despite Editor Tom
Smith’s over-emoted The Other
Side, there are respites from the
drama. Lavelle’s pioneering
trip-hop roots are evident amid
Ar-Mour’s breakbeats, and
Elliot Power reheats his Tricky
impersonation on the urgent
Nothing To Give, while Only
Yo u’s heavy strings sweep us
into widescreen Cinematic
Orchestra territory. WWThough its amplified melancholy
initially seems deep-set, A New
Illusion is – like Stellular, former
Pipette Rose Elinor Dougall’s
2017 album – a true grower.
When she sings on the fragile
Wordlessly of a love in which
one loses oneself – “Pull me into
the universe within you” – its
dreamy, Slowdive guitars prove
ultimately ravishing, while, on
Something Real, she’s teased
by the possibility of romance,
reality biting in her plea to
“Hold me with your bloodiedhands/ This is living,
understand”, the casual
unfurling of strings, guitar,
and piano instead providing
a transformative and
hopeful resolution.
It is, however, Dougall’s
compassionate tone that’s most
seductive, not least her sighed
“Where do you wanna go?” to
a tormented friend on the lovely
That’s Where The Trouble Starts.
Indeed, her sentiments are
frequently tender: the aching
Too Much Of Not Enough’s
incisive “She’s been having too
much of not enough,” its
delicate piano line recalling
Nils Frahm; the title track’s
comforting “Put your shaking
hands in mine”. Nonetheless, if
a new BFF is not what you’re
looking for, Take What You Can
Get’s filthy guitars offer
swooning drama suggestive of
Kirsty MacColl singing for The
Dears. Everything comes up
Rose’s in the end. WW© Dean ChalkleyOBLONG
THE SEA AT NIGHT
MEMETUN RECORDINGSHHH
Formed with two friends in the
early 1990s by Ben ‘Benge’
Edwards, a regular collaborator
with John Foxx, Wrangler
and John Grant, Oblong have
taken 13 years to deliver their
second album. That’s a suitably
unhurried pace for a collection
of often pretty instrumentals that
sometimes recall the nostalgic
futurism of former Warp act
Plone, while Fast Radio Burst
sounds like Cameo attempting
krautrock. Somewhat inevitably,
Kraftwerk can be heard in
Phosphorescence, but Romford
Suzuki is the improbable sound
of Landscape attempting Pop
Life-era Prince. WWSTEALING SHEEP
BIG WOWS
HEAVENLY RECORDINGS
HHH
Liverpool trio Stealing Sheep’s
third album is so big and bright
it appears almost saturated.
It’s also full of contradictions, its
sophisticated pop still strangely,
albeit deliberately, primitive,
the refined harmonies of Back
In Time and Why Haven’t I?
sometimes sickly sweet and
wilfully amateur. This makes
Big Wows as appealing as
it’s frustrating, the playfully
effervescent, groove-heavy
Jokin’ Me offset by the childish
Breathe, the shimmering Show
Love undermined by the overly
cute Just Dreaming. If only their
ebullient True Colours was a
Cyndi Lauper cover. WW
GANG OF FOUR
HAPPY NOW
GILLMUSICHH
Let’s not be fooled: this is now
a Gang Of One, with just
Andy McGill left from the post-
punk band’s original line-up.
These changes must explain
why their belligerent, angular
guitars have been replaced by
the unrecognisable, wobbly
electronica of Alpha Male and
the woozily weird arrangement
and twisted vocals of Ivanka:
‘My Name’s On It’. I’m A Liar’s
emaciated, experimental dub
certainly demonstrates plenty of
imaginative playing from bassist
Thomas McNeice, but Paper
Thin sounds like a rejected
industrial remix of Simple Minds.
Happy Now? Not really. WWJAKUZI
HATA PAYI
CITY SLANGHHH
Istanbul duo Jakuzi have more
reason than most to consider
themselves outsiders, given
attitudes within their country to
the introspective nature of dark
synth-pop. But their second
album will win fans beyond
their borders, not least the
deceptively cheerful Süphe’s
smooth textures and the
equally appealing jollity of
istemezdim’s, whose guitars
help it sound a little like an early
Babybird tune. Gördügüm Rüya,
meanwhile, sounds likes New
Order unravelling, and To z like
they reformed again, this time
running Bernard Sumner’s tapes
at half-speed. WW