CD Review

Rating 99%

reviewed by Charlie O'

Oh, is that not enough? Ok then, remember if you will the first Blackfield album. Chuck in a dash of Lightbulb Sun era Porcupine Tree, a sprinkle of misery and a soupcon of melody. Mix it up and serve on a bed of iceberg lettuce voila!

Still more?

Ok then. First, I'd better come clean and say that the first album didn't grab me initially. Oh, I knew it was good, but not quite good enough. However, this one completely outdoes the first. The combination of Steve Wilson and Aviv Geffen really clicks this time round to create ten tracks of immense beauty, and real depth.

Once begins the album, with a beating drum beat, working the song into a groove, This is possibly the heaviest song on the album, with the sort of lyrics that can have you thinking that the song is purely about sex, or perhaps it's about rejection, maybe even leading to murder - Blackfield's answer to Guns'n'Roses "Used To Love Her" perhaps? 1,000 people is a reworking of an old Aviv song, Elfey Anashim, where he speaks of his inherent shyness which drives him to perform on the biggest stage he can find. Steve Wilson sings it as beautifully as we've come to expect from him, making the song his own. Indeed he say's it's his favourite song on the album.

Miss U is a far simpler song, but that shouldn't detract anything from it's wonder. Aviv takes over on lead vocals here, and his Israeli accent adds somewhat to the song. I suppose that you prog heads will expect more from it than you really should. You all liked shesmovedon didn't you? well, this is in the same vein. Strangely enough, it fades out on the guitar solo, leaving you wanting to hear more from it. That Wilson guy's a strange dude..

The next song, Christenings, is a Porcupine Tree track that didn't make Deadwing because it was too light. The lyrics tell of meeting some old popstar tramp in HMV or Virgin and wondering about where it all went wrong. A warning to all of us there. I've read that it is supposed to be about Syd Barrett, but I reckon that's another Wilson curve-ball, as Syd was never on MTV much and I doubt that Steve would use a line about him gatecrashing funerals... I think it's about one of the Goss brothers, or the gay bloke from Right Said Fred.

This Killer creeps up next, ho ho, all gentle and melodic, like some time worn old love song, with strings and a lounge room beat. All very uncomfortable, yet enchanting. A haunting piano entrance announces Epidemic, sung by Aviv. Another song where the lyrics tell a different tale to the music. Where love becomes a disease, taking you over so much that you cannot think about anything else, and the littlest things get blown out of all proportion, until the while thing comes crashing in on itself and you're left looking at the devastation, trying to pick up the pieces. Lovely backing vocals by Daniela Pick highlight the end of the song.

Musically My Gift Of Silence falls into what has become the standard for a mournful Blackfield song... slow, yet beautiful beginning, before the louder, yet just as beautiful middle section and end sections take over. Someday strikes me as being possibly the most autobiographical song the Steve has written, though maybe it's all about me. Who can say? On the surface I can imagine lovers looking into each others eyes and smiling, not hearing the lyrics but getting swept away in the lushness of the music, sweeping strings et all.

Where Is My Love is a rerecorded version of the song that appeared as a bonus track on one of the versions of the first album - obviously too good to not properly see the light of day, it again sees Aviv doing a fair bit of singing, as does the final track, The End Of The World, or Sof Haolam as it was previously. A big way to end the album, for sure!

Throughout the album, Steve and Aviv's harmonies show the hallmark of the pair becoming a great combination, some have said like Simon and Garfunkle, others have said McCartney and Wonder. I'll leave it to you to decide.

The whole album is chock full of songs that sound like beautiful love songs, yet once you listen to the lyrics, the dark side come creeping through. Blackfield don't do progressive rock, but they do do bloody good and miserable love songs. Any one of these tracks could be a leftfield hit single, given the right airplay.  Steve Wilson certainly has the golden Midas touch when it comes to writing gorgeous songs about depression, loneliness, solitude, love, hate and fear. It can only be a matter of time before everyone realises what we already know.

I am in love with this album.