8. Boards of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest (Warp)
interludes.’ The latter have given previous works their texture and themes, meaning Tomorrow’s Harvest feels more organic than, say, the empirical division of styles they exercised on 2002’s Geogaddi. The near-total media blackout that shrouds or an elusive duo who once proclaimed ‘music brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin is math,’ the cryptic, numerical-led anmeans author intent remains suitably nebunouncement of Boards of Canada’s fourth album lous. However, the down-tempo, harder-edged was surely the most apt of marketing campaigns. Tomorrow’s Harvest seems to invoke the enThere was the discovery of a unique artefact; a croachment of the city on the countryside, solitary Record Store Day 12-inch, and the subse- further evidenced by the album’s artwork and quent frenzied online treasure hunt for the inter- a rare insight from Eoin on their Pentland Hills’ locking codes that finally confirmed the imminent studio space being a necessary escape from the arrival of Tomorrow’s Harvest. urban sprawl. In a sense, it’s the bucolic dream With the cyber-dust finally settled though, of 2005’s The Campfire Headphase turned gritty was the secretive Scottish siblings’ first album in nightmare. eight years really worth the wait? In a word, yes. Except that Tomorrow’s Harvest is still Tomorrow’s Harvest is certainly no suckerpunch, imbued with an underlying sense of hope and more an unsettling glare before invoking a nervwonder, a trait that came fully-formed to most ous breakdown, yet 15 years after their revered, listeners back in 1998. That may offer Boards of wide-eyed debut album Music Has the Right to Canada some leverage, yet it’s a commodity they Children, it’s a tact that feels warranted in these have never traded in and Tomorrow’s Harvest is, less oblivious times. were it needed, further evidence of this. The hoUnlike previous albums, Tomorrow’s Harvest rizon may look a little greyer and the climate a bit has no immediate, attention-grabbing show tune. colder, but the field in which Boards of Canada No Roygbiv, no 1969, no Dayvan Cowboy. But then stand tall is still resolutely their own. [Darren Carle] BoC are not a singles band and here they made that clear, further blurring the lines between boardsofcanada.com their traditional ‘songs’ and intermittent ‘musical
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Photo: Emily Wylde
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7. Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse (Atlantic)
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fter the promising dress rehearsal of Frightened Rabbit’s debut album, Sing the Greys, the Selkirk troupe quickly followed up with main event The Midnight Organ Fight, a barbed, anthemic indie brew that drew rapturous applause. Little surprise, then, that 2010’s The Winter of Mixed Drinks was keenly received yet fell short of some weighty expectations. “When you make a record that connects with people in such a strong way, it’s really difficult thereafter to find a place where you can write songs and produce albums that resonate in the same way,” says frontman Scott Hutchison of Organ Fight’s looming shadow. “So it’s really nice to feel like we’ve done that.” And ‘done that’ they certainly have with Pedestrian Verse, their fourth album and first for major label Atlantic Records. Its success can certainly be measured quantifiably, through chart position, new fans gained and the band’s general step-up to the bigger leagues. More importantly, though, the critics seem to have judged Pedestrian Verse on its own merit rather than as an addendum to the band’s previous album. “It’s the first time that reaction to one of our records has been positive in both those spheres,” agrees Hutchison. “This album saw us take a step into a realm that had previously been untouched.” While the Rabbits’ steady ascent was predictable enough after signing to Atlantic Records in 2010, the resultant up-turn in quality of their fourth LP was less certain. What seems to have helped is Hutchison’s opening up of the
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songwriting process to the rest of his bandmates, leading to the creation of songs that sound more layered and crafted from the ground up. “It really refreshed the whole notion of being in Frightened Rabbit and I think that’s reflected in the album,” says Hutchison. “The process we went through really pulled things away from my singular vision and helped make this record stand by itself.” Of course, the wider exposure they’ve gained in the interim has helped draw a line in the sand, as new fans come to the fray unencumbered by the weight of the past. However, veteran listeners have far from abandoned the good ship F’Rabbit – a testament to what they’ve achieved with this particular record. It’s subtle, diverse and incredibly accomplished, while sounding effortless, as if these euphoric tunes, these ear-worming riffs and these heartfelt tales were always hanging in the ether, ready for the band to utilise when they alone were ready. “What people recognise Frightened Rabbit to be – honest music that doesn’t adhere to a particular style and isn’t about us being a buzz band – that’s still intact,” states Hutchison; “It’s a great place to be in.” It’s this balance of addressing the in-built, anthemic nature of their music while not kowtowing to how an indie-rock band that finds itself on a major label should sound that has unified their critical and commercial acclaim this time around. “You always say, and you always mean it at the time, that your last record is your best one,” says Hutchison as he reflects on the year Pedestrian Verse has ushered in. “But I think I’ll look back on this one with greater fondness than I have before. I do believe it’s the best album we’ve made.” [Darren Carle]
andling your own personal catharsis is one thing, seeing it written and spoken back to you writ large is quite another. Forget the ‘psych’ tag that so many have clumsily bracketed Hookworms in with this year in light of their thunderous debut album Pearl Mystic; what really stood out among the likes of Away/Towards’ white-knuckle motorik and In Our Time’s billowing textural fug was the emotional intensity scorched black across its surface, which has since come to define the Leeds five-piece’s live shows. Vocalist MJ laid his soul bare on issues of depression and isolation, liberal use of a Space Echo pedal barely hiding the wracked frustration pouring forth. “I tried listening to it recently but two minutes in I couldn’t deal with it, it was horrible to me,” the musician and producer tells The Skinny from his Suburban Home Studio. “I hear it in terms of the music I make with my friends but I also hear it in terms of the aesthetics that I don’t like about it now.” Plenty of others have listened to it though, since it was recorded over nine months in 2012. Their album tour sold out, they stormed festival slots at Latitude and Liverpool Psych Fest and ultimately signed to Domino imprint Weird World to release Pearl Mystic in America, and play their debut US shows in New York in October. “We were just writing Pearl Mystic for the sake of creativity,” MJ reflects, “we’re more aware we’re
a band now. Which sounds silly, but with Pearl Mystic we were writing around jobs – I had to prioritise my studio for other works – and we do that still, but with everything that’s happened since, it feels split: I don’t consider band practice ‘Hookworms’, that’s just hanging out with my friends. ‘Hookworms’ itself feels like a separate entity now, it’s everything that’s gone on around us. And it’s been odd because we’ve never been aspirational.” Pearl Mystic opened up the positivity of opportunity for Hookworms, but for a band who’ve been vocal from their inception about their commitment to a DIY attitude – the record is still pressed in the UK by Nottingham independent Gringo Records – they’ve found their beliefs angled back at them as their spiralling popularity causes ethical dilemmas on a daily basis, while the music industry opens up its jaws in front of them. “It’s been hard to find the balance, you become normalised to strange things happening,” MJ says. “It’s very easy for people to sit in a pub and decide whether we should or shouldn’t do something when they’ve not faced it. I still feel comfortable with everything we’ve done. But every time these offers come up you do have to stop and at least contemplate it. It would be inhuman not to.” Ultimately though, the five-piece have only gone with what’s comfortable with them – which is all you can do. “And you know, I got to go to New York, and that was just because of the music!” Long may it stay that way. [Simon Jay Catling] parasiticnematode.blogspot.co.uk
Photo: Richard Manning
6. Hookworms – Pearl Mystic (Gringo)
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