09 Under The Bushes Under The Stars
One of the things that even the casual listener knows about GBV is their reputation for being prolific, and here - a mere 21 months after the release of Bee Thousand - we have the third LP in a row to boast 20+ songs.
Thus far, this fecundity has not been to the detriment of the quality. By my (highly scientific, obviously) rating system, more than 80% of the 48 tracks on Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes were at least an 8/10, and nearly half 9/10 or better. As a result, 41 of them reside on my ever-expanding 'GBV Favourites' playlist.
So how well will Under The Bushes... measure up to its two illustrious predecessors...?
The Album
A crate of secrets
The album certainly hits the ground running. 'Man Called Aerodynamics' is a heady, thunderous whirl with a touch of Hüsker Dü about its aggressive riff. Opening line, 'Find deep within your memory coat a cricket bag you ate from' and references to 'the ant god' and 'scary magnets' suggest that, lyrically, we're in for some more hard-to-pin-down abstraction.
There are several other high-energy, driven tracks among the highlights. The tender message of 'Your Name Is Wild' ('I'll pray for the angels to keep you, my child') is accompanied by a thrilling barrage of melodic thrash. It has echoes of early Teenage Fanclub, as does the blurry grind of 'It's Like Soul Man', the concise lyric of which has a similarly touching tone.
'Underwater Explosions' is a tense melodrama with a joyfully eruptive hook. It appears to be another relationship song, albeit one with a slightly more sinister feel ('a crate of secrets darker than she'). Driven by an urgent, siren-like two-note refrain, 'Ghosts Of A Different Dream' is also frenetically bold and brash. Like 'Man Called Aerodynamics', there's a bit of a fantasy fiction vibe, with references to to 'the ogre's trumpet blaring' and 'the crest of a different shield.'
Big Daddy
It's not all breakneck pace though; many of the album's high points are a little more pensive and contemplative. The apex is the achingly dreamy 'Don't Stop Now'. The epic grandiosity of the song is anchored firmly by the rippling snare fills; there's also a winning contrast between the sweeping musical setting and the earthy lyric ('Six pack rings 'round his neck, cock o' the block... a leaky quart of motor oil'). And thanks to the good folk on the GBV Facebook group, I now know that 'Big Daddy' is a reference to the cover star of Devil Between My Toes.
'The Official Ironmen Rally Song' is similarly rousing, but this time with that 'call-to-arms' air previously noted on songs such as 'Trampoline' and 'Common Rebels'. As well as a striking melody, it boasts a gloriously abrasive little guitar solo. 'Lord Of Overstock' stomps along with passionate abandon; 'Big Boring Wedding' is powerful yet meditative, with another of those glorious hooks punctuated by robust drum fills; the malevolent, brooding 'Sheetkickers' filters Nirvana through a GBV lens.
At the poppier end of the spectrum, there's the jangly, uplifting-yet-melancholy REM-ish 'Drag Days', the sparsely plaintive 'No Sky' and the effervescently cascading arpeggios of 'Atom Eyes'. This trio demonstrate a lighter touch, but are by no means lacking in substance.
Mirrored halls of empty values
The quieter, more downbeat moments are largely, if not consistently successful. The pick of them is the thoughtful, melancholy 'Redmen And Their Wives'. The way that the song builds in intensity is impressive, and whilst the way that the drums kick in at 2:25 is entirely predictable, that doesn't detract from its emotional heft. Personally, I'd have liked the dramatic coda to have gone on for a few minutes more, but I recognise that that's not the GBV way...
The brittle, introspective 'Bright Paper Werewolves' packs a shitload of emotion into 74 seconds. 'Burning Flag Birthday Suit' is a shimmering haze of echo and distortion with an impenetrable message ('Reveal the ghost blood fat black gas exudes / moves into the mirrored halls of empty values'). Consisting of little more than stacatto chords over an eerie drone, 'Look At Them' is impressively bleak and desperate.
The album's weak link is the rather pedestrian acoustic strum, 'Acorns & Orioles'. Despite some moderately pretty guitar picking, the repetitive refrain soon palls. It might well have worked satisfactorily as one of those trademark sub-60 seconds 'verse-chorus-we're out of here' vignettes, but as a full-length song, it falls short. The ghostly ambience of instrumental 'The Perfect Life' is reminsicient of one of Mogwai's forays into film soundtracks. It's also a little inconsequential, but its brevity makes for a passable interlude.
Ramshackle enthusiasm
The five remaining tracks are solidly good rather than spectacular. A brief tale of 'overworked spines' in 'crowded gymnasiums', 'Rhine Jive Click' is taut and controlled with a hint of menace. Although it's only just over three minutes long, 'Cut-Out Witch's shifts in tempo and dynamics seem almost prog-like by GBV standards.
'To Remake The Young Flyer' is an engagingly hazy wash of psychedelia. After trundling along amiably for a minute or so, 'Office Of Hearts' resolves into an agreeably forceful coda, bolstered by the interplay between main and backing vocals. The loose, shambolic finale 'Take To The Sky' feels in constant danger of falling apart, but somehow carries you along with its ramshackle enthusiasm. The more obvious move, of course, would have been to conclude with the slow-burn drama of 'Redmen And Their Wives', but there's something quite refreshing about this far less predictable choice of denouement.
The first thing to note is that UTBUTS is, whilst still recognisably the work of the same band that recorded Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes, has a much more professional air about it. Aside from the the instrumental interlude of 'The Perfect Life', nearly all of the tracks are 'proper' verse-chorus-verse-chorus songs, almost always coming at least close to the two-minute mark. And whilst it's not exactly Steely Dan, the production sounds way more expensive and conventional than any of the earlier albums.
The experimental sound collages and brutally truncated snippets are notably absent. The rougher, more challenging edges have, to a large extent, been sanded down, leaving an album that is still full of exquisite, raucous invention but is less challenging and much easier for the casual listener to access.
This is not a damning criticism. UTBUTS may have sacrificed a little of the left-of-centre innovation for consistency, but it is still crammed with breathtakingly good tunes (by the aforementioned scientific system, very nearly half are at least 9/10). But it's not quite the thrilling, unpredictable adventure of the two albums that preceded it.
Once again, the overwhelming majority of tracks make the grade...
- Man Called Aerodynamics
- Rhine Jive Click
- Cut-Out Witch
- Burning Flag Birthday Suit
- The Official Ironmen Rally Song
- To Remake The Young Flyer
- No Sky
- Bright Paper Werewolves
- Lord Of Overstock
- Your Name Is Wild
- Ghosts Of A Different Dream
- Look At Them
- Underwater Explosions
- Atom Eyes
- Don't Stop Now
- Office Of Hearts
- Big Boring Wedding
- It's Like Soul Man
- Drag Days
- Sheetkickers
- Redmen And Their Wives
Album rank:
As was the case with Alien Lanes and Bee Thousand, I had a hard time separating Bushes and Propeller, so once again I had to turn to the maths - which provided another wafer-thin margin.
1. 9.09 Alien Lanes
2. 9.08 Bee Thousand
3. 8.73 Under The Bushes Under The Stars
4. 8.72 Propeller
5. 7.9 Vampire On Titus
6. 7.6 Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia
7. 7.1 Same Place The Fly Got Smashed
8. 7.0 Sandbox
9. 6.6 Devil Between My Toes
Other News
- An eleven-day gap between the previous post and this one is better than I thought I'd do! My summer holiday ends next Tuesday, and September to December sees me away with work a lot, when I get lots of hotel room time to listen and write - so the pace will, hopefully, pick up somewhat.
- A few days ago, I was interviewed by Ian Forth for the Vinyl Maelstrom podcast, talking about The Fall. I know that there are some Fall fans amongst you, so I'll post a link when it's up. In the meantime, I can highly recommend the podcast for some thoughtful and enlightening musical discussion.
- Ian and I will shortly be reconvening to record an episode of his other podcast, Sombrero Fallout (which I can also heartily recommend). I will be talking about ten tracks that have soundtracked my life - so there's a very good chance that there'll be a GBV track involved! Again, I'll post a link once it's up.
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