I was pointed in the direction of Glasgow-based Andrew Lindsay and the Coat Hooks by friend and fellow blogger Colin Bell of It's Bloggerin' Time, and I have to thank him for the nudge in Lindsay's general direction. New-ish EP The Whittling is a reminder that making music similar in style to your heroes isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Lindsay and his band trade in impassioned folk-rock that Idlewild once managed to produce before they went a bit rubbish. This is music that wears its heart on its sleeve, that would work equally well as pedal-to-the-metal driving music as sit-at-home-and-wallow-in-your-broken-heart-but-i'm-fighting-back music. Phew.
The quiet piano intro of 'The Boat Outside' suddenly bursts in to an exhilarating opening, and that momentum is carried on by the jangling 'A Grim Crossing' before things are slowed down with the brooding 'Bearded Author'. As much as I enjoy the upbeat moments, I do like a miserablist song or two, and that song is the highlight of the EP for me.
Tempo is picked up again with 'Very Winged Is', marrying acoustic and electric guitars to good effect, before we end with title track 'The Whittling'. I'll have to admit it's not my favourite moment on the EP, but the harmonies are rather lovely.
I don't know what the band have up their sleeves next, but in a genre where it can often go badly wrong (I've never seen the attraction to the Fence Collective, for example) it's a fine statement of intent.
No comments:
Post a Comment