Tag: mcrae reviews

This is not just a return to a full band sound from Tom McRae but a real sit-up-and-shake-the-cobwebs attempt at reinvention.

McRae’s previous release, From The Lowlands, distilled his introspection down to 48% proof; both lyrically and musically pared to the bone and at times painfully raw. It also felt like part of a slow spiral away from the mainstream that seemed in danger of ending in an album of the singer busking in an underpass.

Refreshingly this new release is a big, percussive, even – dare I say it? – commercial album. Certainly the raft of 4 star reviews from the mainstream music press might stir some hope. There’s plenty of angst here, and darkness, but it’s largely directed outwards rather than inwards, into fables of soaring despair, futile hope, and richly crashing instruments. There’s a sense of McRae (and band) experimenting musically and vocally. The opening track, “The High Life”, is almost off-puttingly delivered in an Old West leer that sets a mood of ominous americana. The rest of the album wisely sees McRae’s pure voice used more traditionally, but there remains a ragged quality at times that suits the emotion. These are tales of people driven to the edge of existence; when he wails “I am lost now” over and over in “The Dogs Never Sleep” it’s hard to disbelieve him.

That’s not to say the album doesn’t deliver variety. From the ballad of “Christmas Eve, 1943” to the spare “Let Me Grow Old With You” to the propulsive pop protest of “We Are The Mark” it’s a diverse and rewarding set of songs.

It’s also far from a complete departure for McRae, with seeds of americana and musical experimentation evident in ‘The Alphabet of Hurricanes’ and ‘Just Like Blood’, but there’s an energy and purpose here that belies the apocalyptic themes.

At only nine tracks the album could perhaps use one more killer tune. A tune, perhaps, like the thundering single “What A Way To Win A War” or the joyous “The Breeze Blows Cold”, both relegated to the companion disk ‘The Buzzard Tree Sessions’. Artistically they might be at odds with the feel of the album, but in terms of quality they’re every bit its equal.

“We come from the lowlands / Dream of high ground.”

On first impressions From the Lowlands (‘Being the second part of The Alphabet of Hurricanes’) feels like a perplexingly spare, small record. An EP with ideas above its station. Certainly not the same kind of diverse, confident affair as its predecessor.

It’s not long before those first impressions are confounded. Ruthlessly stripped-back tracks such as the opener, ‘Lately’s All I Know’, worm their way into your brain with melodic hooks that belie the starkness of the production (or indeed its subject of bereavement). The cover of ‘Sloop John B’ counterpoints a melancholy take with rich harmonies, the beautiful title track blooms into a choir of voices, and when ‘The Alphabet of Hurricanes’ finally makes itself known as a song rather than an album, it’s as an epic 8 minute affair heralded by lush string arrangements. Lyrically it’s also one of the strongest compositions on a collection of sincere songwriting that’s almost painfully confessional, even for Tom McRae. Two tracks, the perky ‘Fuck you, Prometheus’ and the maudlin ‘All That’s Gone’, confront failure to achieve success: “time has worn a hole in me /the place I keep my dreams”. Another two tracks, the opener and the lovely ‘Ship of Blue and Green’ contemplate death and loss. And yet the overwhelming impression is not of gloom but of melancholy beauty.

It’s not the most commercial of offerings; as an introduction to Tom’s music it’s unlikely to convert the unfaithful. The closest thing to a single here is ‘Belly of a Whale’ which is very agreeable but never quite soars, or the sprawling closer. The actual single, or at least the one with the online video, is the low key ‘Nothing on the Dry Land’, my nomination for the least remarkable song on the album.

Ultimately this album has an intimacy that means it never quite escapes the feeling of a maxi-sized EP, but with a full-band album already recorded for release next year maybe that’s exactly what this wants to be. It’s certainly a more addictive experience than it may first appear.

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Hurray! My Tom McRae Live 2007 album arrived yesterday. Just listening to it now, and it sounds every bit as sharp and powerful as you’d expect.

Track list:
1. Walking2Hawaii, La Cigale, Paris
2. For The Restless, The Limelight, Belfast
3. A&B Song, La Cigale, Paris
4. Ghost Of A Shark, La Cigale, Paris
5. End of The World News (Dose Me Up), The Limelight, Belfast
6. Got A Suitcase, Got Regrets, Folken, Stavanger
7. One Mississippi, La Cigale, Paris
8. On And On, La Laiterie, Strasbourg
9. Deliver Me, Shepherds Bush Empire, London
10. Only Thing I Know, Debaser, Stockholm
11. Silent Boulevard, The Limelight, Belfast
12. Boy With The Bubblegun, The Limelight, Belfast

I could obviously suggest many other songs I’d like to hear, but this is a decent spread from his four albums with some material like ‘Ghost of a Shark’ that I’ve not personally heard very often (contrasting with songs like ‘Got a Suitcase…’ that I seem to hear all the time). The interpretations tend towards acoustic but if anything less quiet and sparse than you’d expect from the albums, with rich backing instruments from Olli Cunningham and Oli Kraus and a rounded sound. Tom is in strong voice and belts out some of the more up tempo material like ‘A&B Song’ and ‘End of the World News’ and there’s some electric guitar in there.

If you’ve seen him live you’ll know what to expect. This brings back memories for me, though I have to say we made a far livelier audience on ‘End of the World News’ than the shambolic lot on the album.

It has a fairly cheap cardboard sleeve, but since this is a direct release from Mr McRae unmediated by a record contract I assume it means more money gets to the artist. Go buy it! Other than that there’s nothing to quibble about. Very pleasing.

I’m really enjoying Tom McRae’s new album King of Cards. I’ve spent the best part of the last few days with fragments of its tunes slipping in and out of my head.

I’m also a bit disappointed with it: there are a few songs that, as yet, seem as anonymous as passing strangers on the street. I still couldn’t tell you much about them despite the fact that I’ve bumped into them for three days straight. ‘The Ballad of Amelia Earheart’ is one such, as is ‘Houdini And the Girl’. It’s not that they’re poppy, just… slight. There are also some songs that feel lyrically or structurally awkward, like ‘One Mississippi’, which is something I don’t normally associate with his writing.

Clearly his mission statement on this album was accessibility. Even more than All Maps Welcome this is by far his most eclectic mix of songs, with tracks that could sit comfortably on each of his past albums but also frothier tracks that, until now, I really wouldn’t have associated with him at all. The saving grace is that he does accessible quite well. Even the up-tempo happy ones have twists and quirks that sound like Tom McRae songs–just up-tempo, happy Tom McRae songs. ‘Bright Lights’, for example, is just the kind of thing I didn’t expect to like. It’s great. They’re not as satisfying as a lot of material on his earlier albums, but they’re enjoyable on their own terms. And if they feel a little bit thin at times then there’s always the more typical stuff like the sparse ‘Got A Suitcase, Got Regrets’ or the stumbling bitterness of ‘Keep Your Picture Clear’. ‘On And On’ is strangely addictive too.

It’s far from perfect, but there’s lots to enjoy. Apparently he’s already written his next album, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be great, but I do hope for something a touch darker next time around.

I’m addicted to Tom McRae. It started small – just the first album. Okay, strike that, it started big – just the first album. I liked it after one listen, loved it after two, then we put it on repeat play in the car and never looked back. I’m expecting the album’s third child shortly.

What’s got me hooked…