- Boys for Pele
- Scarlet's Walk
- Unrepentant Geraldines
- Bliss (single)
Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
James Blake - Overgrown
David Bowie - "Heroes"
dc Talk - Jesus Freak
Gomez - In Our Gun
Patty Griffin - Downtown Church
Incubus - Make Yourself
Incubus - If Not Now, When?
Level 42 - Running In The Family
Wendy Matthews - The Witness Tree
Wendy Matthews - Ghosts
Joni Mitchell - Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
Katie Noonan and the Captains - Emperor's Box
Seal - Seal (II)
Sting - ...Nothing Like the Sun
Megan Washington - There There
At some point in July, my listening shifted strongly in favour of popular music over classical. Most of the time I'm not quite sure why these pendulum shifts occur. This time, I did have a bit of a sense that I was slightly tired of working through so much classical music, but also a sense that it was time to consciously freshen the popular music listening.
And so you see on this list some albums I hadn't listened to for quite a long time, and also some that I'd never heard before. James Blake's Overgrown was a new purchase. The album is of course a couple of years old, but in fact James Blake has been hovering on my radar since around 2011, the time of his first full album (he's also released a considerable number of EPs). At some point I was introduced to his version of a song called "Limit To Your Love" and it held my attention.
However, when I tried the first album during July (and not, I think, for the first time) I didn't find it very satisfying. It was too fragmentary - too many of the songs felt like sketches, not fully formed ideas. It was perhaps telling that "Limit To Your Love" was a cover. The impression I came away with was that Blake had production skills in abundance, and the ability to use them to match his plaintive voice, but was lacking as a songwriter.
When I listened to Overgrown for the first time, it was immediately apparent that his songwriting skills had improved considerably. While in truth some tracks still rely more on atmospherics than anything else, and the song structures tend to be fairly simple, they do actually sound like complete songs rather than undeveloped ideas. And the other strengths are still there - Blake's voice is haunting, and he knows how to shape the rest of the music to enhance that quality. It only took that one listen to add Overgrown to my shopping list and duly purchase it the next time I was near a CD shop (yes, I know I am quaint).
The other brand new entry here is Incubus' If Not Now, When?. I purchased the album in April on my travels, partly for the sheer novelty of where I bought it from (along with several other discs I've yet to listen to), but also because I quite liked the other 2 Incubus albums I already owned.
Subsequently, and before listening to the album, I read some fairly negative things about it. And I understand why the reviews were not positive, yet at the same time I think the reviews were a bit wrong. What we have here is yet another example of a music act deciding to do something different, and not taking all of its 'native' audience with it.
Because essentially, Incubus is known as an alternative rock band, with even a dash of metal, and If Not Now, When? is an album with a strong pop or adult contemporary flavour. There are plenty of signs that the band were well aware of what they were doing, consciously keeping the songs simple. The album also has a very warm, relaxed and intensely melodic feel to it. None of these are qualities you're likely to expect from an "alternative metal" band.
It's worth mentioning that there is some precedent for warm, happy-sounding songs on Incubus albums. But nevertheless If Not Now, When? takes that aspect of the band a lot further.
The shock of the different sound is heightened by the order of the songs, because it seems entirely intentional that the simpler songs come first. That's one of the the more intriguing things about the record. The opening title track is a slow, grand number with a soaring melody line, and it's followed by "Promises, Promises", which is about as blatant a singalong pop song as you could wish for.
"Friends and Lovers" comes next and is equally unthreatening apart from one verse where the music underneath changes. From there the album darkens by degrees - it could never be said to become truly dark, but the shift in tone to something a little closer to "regular" Incubus is clear and was remarked on in many reviews (usually along the lines of how some tracks in the second half saved the album from total disaster).
But is the album even a partial disaster? I would say no. It's true that some of the lyrics end up being a little too trite, but in musical terms the warm, relaxed, open-hearted approach works so long as you let it. So long as you don't demand that Incubus deliver the same thing that they previously delivered. But of course many people do demand that. The name of their favourite artist is a brand, with expectations attached.
For me, though, after a few listens it actually became really enjoyable to put some music on and relax into it. As much as anything, listening to the album became about enjoying Brandon Boyd's voice, which is a pretty magnificent instrument by the standards of male rock/pop singers.
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