May 9: Week 19 of the year sees a gain in momentum as we see our first flurry of festivals later this month to kick off the season. Big names this week: Sleep Token, The Amazons, Spacey Jane and Arcade Fire (ouch) including new material for those upcoming acts: Basht., Humour and Getdown Services.
**NOTE: Arcade Fire’s new record is not one AOTW to get stuck into but rather for me to just have my say on the topic.
Even in Arcadia
Sleep Token
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: The momentous saga of the anonymous English Progressive metal collective continues with their fourth studio record. Quite perhaps an album at its most anticipated – following their gargantuan third Take Me Back To Eden that ripped the fabrics of tradition in heavy metal – Even in Arcadia sinks deeper into the roots of intense emotion. A divisive band on a knife edge between traditional metalheads and those who embrace further afield ideals, Sleep Token – a band who have been earmarked under every sub-genre one way or another – have been quite possibly the hottest topic for many a-year now.An intense and honest telling to the bands’ personal growth opening new doors, Even in Arcadia may be a surprising chapter for many. As fans are divided both old and new, one thing is for sure: this band is the catalyst in exposing metal to its biggest audience yet.
While some songs wane and stagger to the final stroke or flourish, the record as a whole is a sonic defiance rising from the pressure of its predecessor. Even in Arcadia sees an inward look of the bands’ exposition as a whole: it’s brutal, honest and…entirely human. They are worshippers after all.
Read the full review here.
21st Century Fiction
The Amazons
Alt-rock trio of The Amazons resume standards with consistent fourth 21st Century Fiction. The first in three years – after gospel-rock feel How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me? – it sees the band feed into a frenzied riffs, explosive vocals and consistent wall-to-wall plainsongs in a heavier sense of unsettlement. Choral opener Living A Lie soon shifts into a Royal Blood biopic-classic while Pitch Black is swampy rock romp stomper. Joe Bought A Gun was a nice even keel of hearing the band tap into their hefty side and then we have the bands’ western chapter in this tale, Love is a Dog From Hell; a befitting testament to the band trying something adventurous in colour and sound.
If That Makes Sense
Spacey Jane
Wrought with feel-good surf indie lullabies, Aussie indie rockers Spacey Jane have fuelled our coastal drives since their pandemic welcome of Sunlight. By the time we managed to get out and feel such Sunlight, they released their sophomore Here Comes Everybody in 2022. A celebration of normality returning, it brought more of the same glitzy indie-rock workings out as the first: just with the backdrop available this time around.
Now the band returns this year with their driving third, If That Makes Sense. A tour-de-force of anthemic bops and fulfilling trendsetters, it features, “Through My Teeth”, “All the Noise” and “How to Kill Houseplants” all to get ready for this years’ Summer set up.
Tall Tales
Mark Pritchard / Thom yorke
In an effort to undergo every other project but his main cash cow, Thom Yorke has teamed up with electronic maestro Mark Pritchard for a hauntingly beautiful post-industrial study of exploration in the studio booth. Strange vocal turns, a cosmic trip to Joy Division’s underbelly and underground dance synths make up an ambitious collab from two stellar musicians – who seemingly take their craft serious – to just down tools and have some fun.
Pink Elephant
Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire’s post-scandal record is tainted with an elephant in the room. One pink elephant seemingly on fire, perhaps burning all those allegations away from folks’ cerebrals forever much to frontman Win’s whims and desires. For creatives in the public eye, it’s never easy escaping the brink of cancellation. And with good reason. Once the public have a formulated opinion of you, that’s the narrative they’ll latch on to, like a hook to a fish out of water. The likes of Morgan Wallen and Doja Cat who managed to rebound successfully, appear to be mere anomalies in a live-wire world where everything is without boundaries – and everything is not without good reason. Let’s be honest here: if Win and co blasted out a seventh record that reset the dial in the alternative music sphere sonically and lyrically, the album would still be avoided like the plague: much like this one is getting matter-of-fact. Those allegations in 2022 upended the music world and the band with it – and no pink elephant candle is going to make us forget that. An unconvincing state of disparity, Pink Elephant boasts a lack of authenticity and ultimately plays like a swampy afterthought of a couple who turned to the studio for answers – as opposed the counsellors.
POPULAR NOTES___
Basht. celebrate a well-rounded visit this year with their Bitter and Twisted 6-track knockout of alt-rock heavies. While Humour continue their momentum from darkened Neighbours with the fast-fleck of Plagiarist. Getdown Services continue their inane journal jottings of Your Medal’s in the Post last year with the smarmy tale of Eat Quiche, Sleep, Repeat – the first from their 6-track EP of Primordial Slot Machine coming out next month.
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