ALL HANDS_MAKE LIGHT
Darling The Dawn
CONSTELLATION
7/10
Montreal experi-rock linchpins craft otherworldly soundscapes
Efrim Menuck and Ariel Engle started playing together in the 2021 lockdowns with no particular idea in mind, but quickly settled their focus on “the different weights of [dawn’s] radiance”. This debut from the helm of both GY!BE and Thee Silver Mt Zion… and the Broken Social Scene mainstay, respectively, is itself luminous – seven soundscapes that shift across drone, ancestral chant, shoegaze and a forlorn take on sacred music, lent extra otherworldly heft by Engle’s beauteous vocals. Most striking are “Anchor”, which recalls the Bad Seeds’ Ghosteen, and “We Live On A Fucking Planet And Baby That’s The Sun”, a kaleidoscopic, cosmically frazzled union of Patti Smith and Spiritualized. SHARON O’CONNELL
BC CAMPLIGHT
The Last Rotation Of Earth
BELLA UNION
9/10
Masterful return of Manchester’s favourite American ex-pat
Life rarely runs smooth for Brian Christinzio. Deportation, family bereavements and self-destructive tendencies have all informed his work as BC Camplight, though the results are invariably wondrous and blackly comic. The break-up of a long-term relationship feeds directly intoThe Last Rotation Of Earth, the lush title track framing his end-of-days worldview like a latter-day Harry Nilsson transposed onto the industrial north. Playful wordplay and minor-chord ingenuity abound, from the self-reflexive “The Movie” (pining over holiday photos, dressed in a Kermit The Frog onesie) to droll semi-symphony “She’s Gone Cold”, featuring members of Liverpool Philharmonic. ROB HUGHES
THOMAS BANGALTER
Mythologies
WARNER CLASSICS/ERATO
8/10
A different kind of dance music for Daft Punk man
This ballet score was Bangalter’s first post-Daft Punk act. His full orchestral debut places him in a broader lineage, referencing baroque music but with an essentially romantic sensibility. The mythological themes are sometimes oblique: “Zeus” gets minimalist, looping woodwind of withheld power, “Le Minotaure” a plaintive violin solo. “Arès”’ buzzing, vertiginously diving strings and lurching drumrolls, the storm-cloud darkness, layered tension and final, shivering mystery of “L’Accouchement”, rampant, smashing orchestral power of “Les Gorgones” and gracious bliss of “Pas De Deux” show diverse finesse, as Bangalter visits his subjects’ airy, epic other worlds. As with Daft Punk’s sleek 1970s upgrades, his accomplished 1780s meditations go past pastiche. NICK HASTED
ANDY BELL & MASAL
Tidal Love Numbers
SONIC CATHEDRAL
8/10
Ride man unveils spellbinding collaboration
Bonding over Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders’ Promises, Essex-based duo Masal and the increasingly prolific Andy Bell have pooled their talents for this transfixing journey into ambient sound. The four instrumentals are governed by the hypnotic interplay between Bell’s guitar, Alastair Johnson’s analogue synths and Ozlem Simsek’s classical harp, while the real wonder lies in the unexpected fluctuations in timbre and mood. “Tidal Love Conversations In That Familiar Golden Orchard” ventures from rippling lullaby to heliocentric jazz; “The Slight Unease Of Seeing A Crescent Moon In Blue Midday Sky” trades swooping electronica for discordant, semi-industrial drones. ROB HUGHES
THE BLUEBELLS
In The 21st Century
LAST NIGHT IN GLASGOW
9/10
Joyous return for post-Postcard hitmakers
One of the great 1980s Scottish bands, Glasgow’s Bluebells narrowly escaped cult status on Postcard Records and had hits instead. Occasional Rewind reunions have prompted a full reboot, blending soulful reflection and punk energy in a way that re-establishes them as a creative force. The opening “The Ballad Of The Bells” is the autobiographical tale of a band caught between The Velvet Underground and the Govan subway. Elsewhere, they flit between folky soulfulness (“Living Out Loud”), the Robert Forster-ish intimacy of “Daddy Was An Engineer” and the unapologetic punk of “Anyone Could Be A Buzzcock”. ALASTAIR McKAY
BOYGENIUS
The Record
POLYDOR/INTERSCOPE
9/10
The 21st-century CSN make good on the promise of 2018 EP
“Without You Without Them”, the heartrending a cappella opener on the long-awaited album from the indie supergroup comprising Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus, has the feel of some beloved family home recording, demonstrating the uncanny close harmonies of siblings who’ve grown up braiding their voices. As such it’s a great illustration of how the trio are even more than the sum of their considerable parts. On highlights like “Not Strong Enough” (which tips its hat to The Cure at their most poppy: “Drag racing through the canyon/Singing ‘Boys Don’t Cry’”) it feels like Dacus’s metaphysical grace, Baker’s bittersweet bite and Bridgers’ mordant wit have hit some perfect equilibrium, like a perfect three-way high-five. STEPHEN TROUSSÉ
PETER CASE
Doctor Moan
SUNSET BLVD
8/10
Bluesy and folksy; first set of originals since 2015’s HWY 62
For this 11-song release, Plimsouls composition master Peter Case returns to the pre-punk/pre-power-pop basics, explaining what life’s missing in – a piano concerto, with harmonica – goes deep into pre-electric Southern blues or delves into the historic, pre-Dylan Village folk scene. In one case, “4D”, no words are needed at all; in others, especially highlights “The Flying Crow” and “Wandering Days”, Case takes deep emotional tolls into the humanstates of life.
