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list.co.uk What started as a Brighton scene side-project has become a serious proposition and on this showing, they've risen to the challenge. While Brakes' debut was a spat-out country-punk fuck-you of a record, this more considered and diverse follow-up shows a band fulfilling their huge potential. There's so much going on here it's hard to know where to start. There's the gonzo riffing of Hold Me in the River, the beautiful acoustic Isobel, the rattling country ruckus of On Your Side, the daft punk of Porcupine or Pineapple? and, well, shitloads besides. Despite the diversity, Brakes stamp so much charisma on everything that it hangs together perfectly.
The fun these guys must have had putting this genre jumble sale together oozes from the speakers and into your ears like a toffee ice cream on a summer day. Silly in the best sense. Although at home grappling with macro issues, such as the current geopolitical situation, the guys are also not afraid to tackle issues of the heart and more whimsical party tunes, like Spring Chicken, which encourages the listener to "Come on over and do the twist". Punkier moments like Margarita stomp with wailing guitars and a bulging, pumping pop heart, but it's when politics are dropped and the instruments are unplugged on the beautiful Isabel, that Brakes truly deserve the term supergroup. Margarita follows along in similarly effervescent fashion, the rapid strumming and stop-start opening setting things up for a rapid assault on your senses. Vocally, it's really off-kilter. But then the album changes pace, with the country-influenced indie rock of If I Should Die Tonight, something of a ballad. It evokes fond memories of both Gomez and The Bees, while maintaining its own sense of spiky enthusiasm. There's a hint of 60s psychedelia surrounding the similarly impressive Mobile Communication which, once again, proves just how effective Brakes can be when reigning it in. The chorus is a real charmer. The yelp-heavy Spring Chicken could be said to be the Brakes' equivalent of The Bees' Chicken Payback, kicking off with a "come on over and do the twist" lyric, before meshing livewire, retro guitars with an infectious sense of energy. From then on in, it's a similarly brash mix of fast and slow - some of it edgy and contemporary in a punk-pop kind of way, others slower and more old-school in design... The tender Isabel provides a terrific moment of respite that's both achingly romantic and wholly inspired. Final track No Return completes things in just as impressive fashion, leaving you with a keen sense of admiration for what you've just heard. The best thing that can be said about The Beatific Visions, however, is that you'll be desperate to hear it all over again almost as soon as it's finished. It's a blast that demands repeated listens... The pace is set from the off, and the agitated riffs of the opener "Hold Me In The River" show a surging energy that reminds one of those glorious New Wave recordings of the late 70's, a time when Pop music was influenced by the embers of Punk, the strong melodies supported by beefed up crash chords as Hamilton spits out the agonies of love "How can you tell me now what is this love, if it comes from above, why does it have to be so painful?". The powerful momentum is maintained by the vaguely anti war themes of "Margarita", angry, thrashing and sounding thoroughly embittered and yet still coherent in its passion. "Mobile Communication", an ode to the fallibility of our favourite communicative products and how, in Hamilton's mind, they kill relationships. Supported by a sweet Pedal steel, and an alluring chord change in the chorus, it is without doubt a highlight. Possibly the wackiest and most immediately memorable moment is the gutter Country/Punk hoe down "Spring Chicken", an exhilarating call to the floor, fascinatingly rhythm driven, and it should create a brand new dance as one attempts to work out the moves to Hamilton's ranting vocal, imploring us to "Come on over, do the terrorist". The west coast Pop of "Beatific Visions", the hard Rock of "Cease And Desist", and the Alt. Country "On Your Side" are all strong songs, realized by honest mature performances from the band... For all its genre hopping, "The Beatific Visions" is 30 minutes of memorable rowdiness and restraint, and well worth investigation. Opening with the admittedly BSP-sounding (in places) Hold Me In The River, it soon becomes apparent that these guys all have a dream - the same dream - to be a part of some all-encompassing, genre-trespassing rock and roll quartet that sounds like a combination of all the best bits of the artists and songs they love without ever really mimicking anyone at all. So with that in mind, there are politics-addressing punk mash-ups (Margarita), countrified rock without any cheesy elements (If I Should Die Tonight, On Your Side), haunting ballads (No Return, Isabel), and even the conception of a new form of dance (Spring Chicken)! In fact, it would be easy to run through all eleven titles on this record as seperate reasons to justify why you should invest in The Beatific Visions. But I'll leave it at two, for now. Both coming from opposite ends of the scale, both musically and lyrically. The title track itself, the mid-point of the record as it happens and easily the most radio-friendly single, shows a side to Brakes that few would have envisaged, in that their merging of instant killer hooks combined with Eels-like intelligent quirkiness ("She wants to know existence exists") would ride roughshod over any of the big-hitters you care to mention that have released records this year. And this is/was meant to be a side-project! As the embers of The Beatific Visions drift away, a frighteningly over-enthusiastic punk rant about the merits of who'd come out on top between porcupines or pineapples (Porcupine Or Pineapple?) blows any cobwebs away. You feel you are listening to a different band entirely, rather than the next track on the record: it's loud, brutal, insane, and will probably lead to stampedes at Killers gigs around the country when the Brighton band play second-fiddle to the Las Vegas quartet. When all's said and done, The Beatific Visions is one of the most enthralling, deceiving and delightful albums of recent times, and my message to its creators is simple. "Don't go back to the day jobs, lads!" Given the rapid-fire nature of a lot of the songs on Give Blood it's perhaps surprising that The Beatific Visions' trump card is the stunning No Return, which closes the set. Its desperate, lonely sadness is arresting without being remotely schmaltzy, and Hamilton's resigned chorus is deeply affecting as he sings: "The pain of being together is more than being apart / I thought of you all December long and now it's a new year start / The loneliness of walking by your side is more than walking alone / That's why I'm leaving". With a guitar, strings and piano making up the sparse, desolate sound, it's a bold, confident way to close a record that also includes the incendiary, seething Porcupine or Pineapple, which spits out its anti-war tirade in 64 seconds. The two songs are poles apart, but Brakes deliver them both with the same conviction. This diversity and ability - as well as willingness - to change tack so quickly without sounding ridiculous is one of Brakes' great strengths, and it's showcased from the outset. The Beatific Visions opens as emphatically as you'd expect, with the boisterous, hooky Hold Me In The River and the staccato, bristling Margarita, which follows a similar lyrical bent to Porcupine or Pineapple. Immediately afterwards, the playful back porch country of If I Should Die Tonight tumbles along amiably; next, Mobile Communication is wistful and contemplative before Spring Chicken charges into the picture, leaping about like a child on Ritalin. It's the sort of song you can (almost) picture at a country hoedown somewhere in the Midwest. Or the middle of West Sussex, maybe. Not many bands could record a song like this without sounding like a novelty outfit, but Brakes do it with style and you get the feeling they had a lot of fun on the way. Despite its Nashville birth, the album does retain a strong sense of Englishness, with references to Birmingham and Hamilton's quirky, idiosyncratic vocal style - but the influence of America makes itself strongly felt, especially in the title track's hazy, summery Beach Boys feel and in On Your Side, which jangles away like a low-slung Tom Petty song. And although The Beatific Visions wasn't recorded quite as quickly as Give Blood - the band was in Nashville for three and a half weeks - that spirit of invention remains, and about a third of the album was written from scratch in the studio. Even though The Beatific Visions is over as quickly as (well, quicker than) Give Blood, you don't feel short-changed: it's such a diverse, turbo-charged and powerful record that its brevity doesn't really matter. It grabs you by the throat, shakes you about a bit and then, twenty-nine minutes later, puts you down much more gently than you'd imagined possible. Your correspondent only hopes that the band continues in this prolific, unpredictable vein, that album number three comes as quickly as this one. Brakes remain resolutely, gleefully impossible to categorise. You get the feeling they like it that way. The Beatific Visions reveals the sound of a band who have taken their time without losing that frantic feeling. Porcupine Or Pineapple is the follow-up to Cheney, slamming the Iraq war and asking the sensible question: "Who won the war, what the f**k was it for?" Hold Me In The River is the closest thing to Ring A Ding Ding, but the sound is more thoughtful and prolonged. As an example: "They say Eamon, tell us how to keep our garden growing / I say try lying on the grass thinking of Scarlett Johansson". Eamon manages to make this line sound even better than it does on the page, perhaps Ms Johansson's first rock 'n' roll reference? When Give Blood was truncated The Beatific Visions delivers a rounded and accessible album. The harsh sounding guitar on Margarita is effortlessly trumped by Eamon's howling vocal of "Margarita/follow the leader" and If I Should Die Tonight contrasts this with a reminder of the quality of the band's song writing. It's a gentle and melodious tune that makes you rock from side to side rather than up and down. The crazy moments are still here, with Porcupine Or Pineapple taking your headphone volume up by about 15 notches. But it's with songs like Mobile Communication that Brakes triumph over all competition and Eamon reveals the true extent of his vocal range. The truth is that this record is better than anything BSP have released and it sets the standard for his former band. Spring Chicken is another highlight and could quite easily be a successful single. Played live it would turn Jet, including their bearded drummer, into a gibbering pile of mulch with wet trousers and embarrassed expressions. Isabel, a slowly plucked acoustic song, is similarly fantastic and reminds fans of the times when Eamon would take Brakes on tour on his own, armed with just his guitar. On Your Side evokes memories of a 60s rock 'n' roll heyday, it would be at home played at Brixton Academy or in a bar in Tennessee, it simply abandons all preconceptions. The Beatific Visions is another short and sweet record from Brakes, but it inspires and enthrals in equal measure and is a tribute to how far this band should go. Hold Me In The River sets the tone for the entire album, Hamilton's quirky vocals quivering as he spits out his lyrics, the music still full of that punk-rock energy but it's just that slightly more polished, the riffs are tight and the sound more focused and direct. It's not Give Blood Pt II but Give Blood grown up. That's not to say their sense of humour has disappeared with this new found maturity, Spring Chicken is a country-rock hoe-down and should see line-dancing rejuvenated in this country, doing the "spring chicken" will be the main event at this years office Christmas party. Then there's the minute thrash of Porcupine or Pineapple? which sounds like some twisted anti-War song with it's "Who won the war, who won the war, was it worth fighting for, what the fuck was it for?" with yells of "Ouch!" as if Eamon has just sat on one or the other... But what makes Brakes such a great and exhilarating band is their switch between different music styles, whilst the silliness brings a smile to your face, their more tender tracks tug at your heart strings. If I Should Die Tonight is a beautiful love song with it's country-leanings and, although the subject of the song has been sung so many times before, "If I should die tonight, will you tell her that I loved her", it sounds so genuine and heartfelt. The closing track No Return is just stunning. A slow burning song about trying to forget about a relationship but events conspiring against you to remind you about it. It epitomises their new found maturity, the music not thrashing about but gently revolving around a simple organ and strings... These are all wonderfully realised songs, they're all miniature stories that, in equal measures, amuse, depress and reassure you - a mini-masterpiece. Another noticeable element in the songs on Beatific Visions is Eamon Hamilton's lyrical message; less concerned nowadays with put downs of his peer group than commenting sardonically on the world around him, whether directly (such as the growling, determined Margarita) or more obliquely as in the brilliant Cease & Desist and Porcupine or Pineapple. Hamilton's love songs have also taken on a new confidence; No Return is a killer ending track, bathed as it is in a shimmering light of woozy, jangly guitar and the doleful drone of a (Hammond?) organ. Elsewhere Beatific Vision is a gloriously ebullient paean to the joys of walking out with your girl, far more open and relaxed in its comment upon the simple joys of love than anything on Give Blood. The LP's last three tracks are marvellous and an indication of all what is great about this band, from the tremendous, hook-laden guitar attack of Cease & Desist through the warm, embracing and human message that is On Your Side - you can really believe in what Hamilton sings, a rare commodity nowadays; I'll go further and say that at times on this LP the similarities to Green era Stipe are very obvious. Beatific Visions finishes with No Return, a magically reflective weepie clocking in around four minutes. See? They can write long songs if they want. A great effort, and there's plenty more to come. |
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The new album kicks off with an absolute buzzsaw of a riff on Hold Me In The River which crunches throughout a song which is apparently about the loss of the presumption of innocence. That might explain the line about lying on the grass thinking of Scarlett Johansson! That bigger budget allowed the group to lay down tracks in Nashville - and, as befitting an album recorded there, Brakes' country takes are far more convincing than before. If I Should Die Tonight's barroom piano is typical of a fruitful new attention to detail. Mobile Communication is better still, its gorgeous sighs of pedal steel guitar backing a clever lament about the titular technology. Only the jagged, hilarious rant of live favorite Porcupine Or Pineapple? has the thrilling ire of a Heard About Your Band or Cheney, and with it clocking in at over a minute it still isn't quite as concentrated. That being said, Spring Chicken and Cease and Desist are almost as much fun and do have more staying power. And we're still talking about songs with lines like God came down and said I'm FUCKING bored. Review 1 Besides its humorous, caustic art-punk spirit, Brakes 2005 debut Give Blood was easily the shortest album since the advent of the compact disc - it didn't even top 29 minutes. This follow-up is 39 seconds shorter still and just as irreverent. Recorded in Nashville, the city most clearly inspired the country-punk romps If I Should Die Tonight and On Your Side. But Brakes is still the vehicle for the yelping Hamilton's scattergun approach, taking in sad-eyed indie pop, boggle-eyed thrashers and weepy-eyed barfly ballads. Naughty deranged fun. Review 2 After last year's Give Blood, Brighton's Brakes are back with an album that is, if anything, even more cherishable. Relocation to Nashville prompts the occasional misgiving: this is, after all, a band whose debut boasted two tracks under the 30-second mark. So songs as plangent and luxuriating as the pedal steel-flecked Mobile Communication and the closing heartbreaker, No Return, require readjustment. But any group formed by one-time members of British Sea Power and Electric Soft Parade was likely to cleave eventually to the pastoral as much as to the short, sharp shock (check out the insane Spring Chicken and the incandescent punk rhetoric of Porcupine or Pineapple? for the latter). Together, they're sensational. Four stars. Pixies-meets-hillbilly gets the album off to a heavy while melodic start. If I Should Die Tonight uses the same conceit as Ronan Keating's If Tomorrow Never Comes, but is much better, obviously, while Mobile Communication's evocative lyrics and melancholy country sound are all the more touching set amongst the heavy opening tracks and the honkin stonkin line dancing racket of Spring Chicken. Later on in the album we hear an acoustic offering from the Brakes, an intelligent, although bizarrely entitled one minute punk blast (Porcupine Or Pineapple) and the Beach Boys-tinged, innocently lovely title track, before finishing with a track sounding remarkably like Elton John's Your Song. Impressed? You should be. With the standard guitar/bass/drums line-up, Brakes have managed to produce a hugely varied yet coherent record with intelligence, emotion and grit. If I Should Die Tonight makes me want to don a pair of dungarees and have a bit of a barn dance jig with hay bales around me. In contrast, Porcupine or Pineapple feels like it's been lifted straight from a small sweaty 1980's punk club... my favourite line is Spikey spikey! Not sure that it has any point but to make you move in a jumpy head thrashing kind of style, which is good I suppose. So, in a nutshell, if you're into British Sea Power, country or punk, check these babies out. They're definitely worth a listen. "I woke up late and found my liberty lost/ It had been written down in law as a security cost," proclaims overwrought vocalist Eamon Hamilton in the opening number's stirring defence of habeas corpus. And by the time 10 more similarly potent and plausible indie-rock anthems - from tender love songs, to erudite musings on the work of Soviet author Mikhail Bulgakov - have rushed by in less than half an hour, Brakes seem pretty much unstoppable. Ben Thompson Personal highlights: Mobile Communication - A sweetly delivered tune about the pitfalls of cellular phones. Brilliant. Porcupine Or Pineapple - One minute and four seconds of angry politicking. Cease And Desist - The fate of the world is at stake when God and Satan sit down to some whiskey and poker. No Return - This beautiful track makes an analogy between love and visiting a record store. Could be the Brakes' longest song ever at a whopping 4:57!!! In short, what these Brakes are doing with their music isn't being done by anyone else in the indie rock world. Safe to say if you are a fan of GB, then TBV surely won't disappoint. When Sparks appeared on Jonathan Ross's TV show recently, they asked Brakes guitarist Tom White to play with them. It's not hard to see why: the two bands share a taste for intensely oddball music. The follow-up to last years Give Blood is a positively unhinged record that yo-yos between furious punk (Cease & Desist) indie pop (Hold Me In The River) and country-inflected rock (Mobile Communication) Meanwhile, Porcupine Or Pineapple condenses the same bipolar quality into a 70-second thrash. Apparently, it's about the state of the world. If so, it effectively communicates a sense of bedlam. Download: Hold Me In The River. Recording fast and as live as possible doesn't hurt their output either, and the roar of a band delighting in their playing is evident on the likes of the rampaging Spring Chicken, Cease and Desist and Porcupine Or Pineapple. Why more groups don't grasp that concept is frankly beyond me. The breathtaking No Return is the pinnacle of the set. It sends shivers up and down my spine whenever I hear it, which in the past week or so has been many, many times. The Beatific Visions has effortlessly elevated itself to one of my most treasured records of this or any year and has more than helped to cement Brakes as one of my favourite groups of this or any era. Believe the hype. The country-punk element of their sound is one of the band's strong points - making for taught and engaging songs without the constraints of sounding like everyone else at the moment... The excellent Porcupine Or Pineapple? - distilling recent wars to a few simple words. There are some fantastic songs on this record and it just adds further evidence that the band are heading in the right direction, making great music along the way. Rock-a-Billy decorated On Your Side and the ambient violin filled No Return bring the record to an accomplished ending. And before you know it, the cards have all been thrown down in a double or nothing matchup, and the Brakes walk away victorious. twistedear.com Your correspondent has already heard Porcupine or Pineapple - which can also be heard at the band's MySpace site - and on the rapid-fire evidence of that track, we think this album's gonna be fun. Brakes' bio speaks of recording with Stuart Sikes in Nashville and drinking lots of booze. I'm sold. They also keep songs short and don't dwell on one riff for too long. Lyrics are smart while a little boozy. Brakes combine my favorite parts of British and American music, break them down, and recreate a sound that is somewhat abstract but also totally controlled. Brakes pull off an unparalleled fete with The Beatific Visions - in my opinion, it is the most successful integration of country into Brit rock since the Stones' wrote Exile on Main Street. Beatific Visions is the perfect second album for Brakes. It shows that the band is more than just a few joke songs and covers. But they never forgot to have fun as well. Give Blood was in many best of the year lists and Beatific Visions will follow suit and be right there at the end of the year as one of the finest. |
