I wasn’t expecting this at all.
Before pressing play and sitting down with a cigarette and yet another coffee I decided I might just read the press release for this album.
There are A LOT of words on the press release.
A lot of very flowery words.
I’m not one for huge tracts about music.
Let the record speak, maaaaan.
So it was with some trepidation that I did eventually press play.
And I’m damn glad I did.
This is a beautiful, melancholy, uplifting album.
From the opening “A Hiccup In Your Happiness” (a good title, no?) I began to get excited. There’s a certain something that antipodean bands do incredibly well. I’m not even sure what the something is (I’m not sure that the bands in question would realise they do it), but it’s there in The Cannanes, Ashtray Boy, The Go-Betweens, and it’s there in the NZ pop of The Chills, The Verlaines and The Bats.
The Lucksmiths’ arrangements are sparse and fragile.
Guitars chime.
Minor chords ring out.
Drums shuffle under the foggy quality of the lilting vocal.
Later in the album “The Chapter in Your Life Entitled San Francisco” is a subtle monster with string arrangements added to great effect.
I don’t know what else to say.
This is a thing of gentle pop loveliness.
Now, what was I saying about flowery writing?

Posted: 08|26|05 at 5:56 pm. Filed under: record reviews.
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