Song Of The Day #11: Sparklehorse - Morning Hollow

It's Sunday so I think I may start sticking to a religious regiment of songs to feel 'sorry for yourself to' as that's quite frankly what most of us do on a Sunday. A shining example of this is the very  sombre 'Morning Hollow' the very apt title is about feeling Hollow in the Morning and feel this to be a fantastic song to listen to when you're nursing a hangover. It's 7 minutes long but it'll pass you by like a freight train as you close your eyes and pad your thoughts out with the emotion felt in this song. 

Hear the rest of the 'Song Of The Day' playlist here: Pitch&Key Song Of The Day

'Morning Hollow' is from the bands 2006 release 'Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain'

The XX - Coexist (4.0/10)

Lets get this right out of the way, the self titled album, yeah I didn't like that (aside from a few choice moments) I thought the album was several levels of bland and had nothing in the way of sincerity or even likeability as this very stylised and constructed image that swamped the band from the get go tried to cover up quite shallow and insubstantial music. 'Coexist' seems to only continue in this trend as it seems to strip what little character the was to be found on the debut entirely leaving a collection of very minimal and broody songs that have that fake emotional whimper slapped all over it. I understand why they're popular and even had a few awards thrown their way but this album just amplifies all of the XX's weaker moments and makes a whole album out of them. The songs are mostly forgettable with a few moments occasionally shining through, the synth sound on 'Try' is really hypnotic for example, but it's thrown in between incredibly contrived, uninspired and incredibly flat verses & this is par for the course on this album. Aside from some interesting pieces of production from Jamie XX this  album is coffee table music in the worst sense of the word, it's just very bland & the sort of thing people in middle management would throw on if they're feeling conservative.

Recommended Tracks:

Eugene McGuinness - The Invitation To The Voyage (4.5/10)

I have been quite the fan of Eugene McGuinness, ever since his debut single 'Monsters In The Bed' I have followed his career fairly closely; something thats actually been quite easy as it's been 4 years since his last full length album release. 'The Invitation Of The Voyage' is his 3rd record after the excellent 'The Early Learnings Of' and the strong but flawed self titled that came out in 2008. I have always viewed Eugene as an  artist full of potential just waiting to come out and with 'The Invitation To The Voyage' once again we get glimpses of this but perhaps a more pressing issue we see lots of it being repressed in generic stylistic pop. I never thought I'd see the day where Eugene McGuinness would put out something as frightfully dull as 'Videogame' but lo and behold it actually happened. Having said that the are a few moments on this album which are actually incredibly strong 'Lion' & the title track 'Invitation To The Voyage' are both stellar moments and the final run of tracks is exactly the sort of thing I hoped for from Eugene but it doesn't really make up for the early body of the album, at least not enough to give it a whole hearted recommendation. 

Album Review: Citizens! - Here We Are

I love straight up Indie Pop, the dancier and catchier the better, especially in the Summer and that's why I always throw my arms out ready to embrace a band such as Citizens! when they come around. Justification for this comes in quick with the quite frankly brilliant 'True Romance' opening off the album to a glorious sunshine filled indie pop funkathon. Now I'm not gushing here, Citizens! are a band who won't show you any new tricks, they sound very much a hybrid of Phoenix and The Spinto Band & this album is a very firm step into the indie pop arena without it being a game changer. But as a rule of thumb if you enjoy either The Spinto Band or Phoenix you WILL enjoy this album and if you don't then you won't. I really enjoy it, even if it does begin to outstay its welcome a little bit towards the end. An accomplished and incredibly solid debut.

Album Review: Best Coast - The Only Place

I have to say I've sort of been taken aback by this hi-fi approach Best Coast seem to have gone for on this album. Is this the follow album you'd expect from the band that set lo-fi lovers hearts alight back in 2010 with 'Crazy For You'? Well definitely not and whilst not bad I can sort of side with the nay sayers on this one.... to sum it up I think this album is really quite boring, the are a couple of stellar indie pop songs here such as 'Last Year' & 'Dreaming My Life Away' but for the most part I've heard better examples of this polished clean hooky guitar driven flavour of indie pop elsewhere. The distinct problem with this album is a clear lack of personality, you get the feeling any band would've made this album, I still say to anyone that likes Indie pop to check this out as the is a lot about this album that is right but for me it's a bit too bland, predictable and lacking any real personality to justify any sort of real recommendation in this quite pedestrian rock album .

Album Review: Allo Darlin' - Europe

Ahh twee pop, you fickle mistress you! I have quite a mixed relationship with Twee pop on a whole, usually I see the genre as a collection of bands trying to cover up their weak songwriting, with so cute it'll make you sick melodies and lyrics, however when the balance is finally tuned and crafted along side some solid songwriting then it quite often churns out some of my favourite albums. Prepare to file 'Europe' by Allo Darlin' in the later camp as this album combines sensible doses of sweet & very solid song writing with a nice dose of melancholy on the side. This album is pretty fantastic, it's melodic & uplifting with some upbeat guitar driven numbers and my personal favourite the slower ukele numbers, any question as to whether this album was fantastic or mearly very good is settled by the time 'Tallulah' comes in with real emotional force with nothing more then sweetly sung female vocals and a ukele, a truly stunning song on a very very very good album.