REVIEW: Long Fin Killie, Amelia (Too Pure / Beggars Banquet)
- Daniel Aloi
This Scottish group hasn't yet taken its place in the modern rock celebrities club, but it should enter the name-recognition roster for its artful, mood-enhancing music.
On Amelia, the band reaches the emotional core of their songs with intelligently reserved displays of instrumental prowess. Relatable and personal without being too conventional, and following their own course, the songs are marvels of precision guitar and bass playing, insistent drumming, and the use of the odd mandolin, bouzouki or kalimba. Saxes and piano play off a lolling bass line and cymbal-tapping in the noirish "Chrysler," and the nearly voice-less "Resin" is carried through beautifully with a violin as the lead instrument.
Doesn't sound too commercial, does it? It can win you over nonetheless. As one of lyrics state, "To hell with style."
In high and low voices, sometimes within the same song (as on "Ringer"), and always intimating in near-whispers, singer Luke Sutherland seems to be entirely confessional. As an affecting way of connecting with the listener, he insinuates the songs to the listener almost on some synaptic level -- they are felt, absorbed rather than merely heard.
One song, "Bigger Than England," is happier-sounding than the rest, chugging along (that bass again) like a vintage Cure single. (Any vocal resemblance to Robert Smith could be purely intentional).
The band remains one of the prime acts on Too Pure, a U.K. label that formerly had a domestic partnership with Rick Rubin's now-in-limbo American Recordings (how I do miss those press releases on colored paper) and in the U.S., on Beggars Banquet. The Too Pure roster has them in good company, with certified alt-rock star club members Stereolab, Mouse on Mars, Th' Faith Healers, Moonshake and Laika. For more information, contact Too Pure at P.O. Box 1944, London NW10 5PJ, U.K.
