Around the start of 2012, my now girlfriend introduced to an album called Man Alive. I gave it a few listens because I liked the opening track, a pop number with the highly stylistic name of My Kz, Ur Bf. Gradually, as I listened to it more and more, I found myself wanting to listen to it more and more, and as the days and weeks went on I started to notice something about it.
ASIDE: Before I start the review, I’d just like to point out that there’s nothing I can say in this review that wont be said by you listening to the album. So if you are actually interested in knowing what the album is like, stop here and go do that. If you’re interested to hear what I thought about it (God knows why), then proceed.
Back on track, I noticed something about it. It was incredible. It was a revolution for me, combining pop music, r’n'b, rock, and even classical in an avant garde shell that really spoke to me in a way that only a few works of art have. From the opening strings of the first track that I still love, to the ridiculous, over-the-top crescendo that closes the final track Weights, there’s little that didn’t resonate with me strongly, both lyrically and musically. This isn’t a review of Man Alive though, so I’ll do my best to get to the point; it’s not a masterpiece, or even seminal in the ‘post-rock genre’ and I highly doubt it will even be that influential (at least in the short term), but (here it comes) it certainly had a huge impact on me. It came in to my life around the same time as my girlfriend Keira, and was a huge part of me bonding with her and her friends (some of whom I’m now very close with). When I say this is an album close to my heart, I hope you can fully understand what I’m saying there.
A few months after I’d fully got in to the album (I was listening to it multiple times daily for a while), we discovered that the band were working on a follow up. Anyone who’s loved an album knows the reaction to the news that it’s going to be followed by another, but all you can really do is wait. So I waited. We a couple of live shows, where I got my first impressions of the new music. I liked what I heard, but decided to reserve judgment until I’d heard them in the studio. Some singles trickled out, both of which I loved, but I think I’ve given enough back story, so lets get to it.
Arc.
Arc is a much more mature album than Man Alive, a second-album-review cliche I hate to use, but their just isn’t a more apt word. Jonathan Higgs, the lead singer and primary song-writer, seems much more comfortable to have only a little going on, which is demonstrated 0n tracks like Torso of the Week and The House is Dust, the later of which actually gets quieter and slower as it goes on (something unheard of on the first album). The album also shows more influence from hip-hop and r’n'b, especially on the single Kemosabe, which features a staccato synth line accompanied by clicking drums, leading into a more rock-n-roll chorus with distorted guitar. The 9th track, Armourland, actually has an 808 cowbell on the chorus, and the verses on the aforementioned Torso of the Week are lifted straight out of an R. Kelly album. Armourland deserves special mention here, as the band once again demonstrate the ease with which they write fantastic pop songs, easily on a par with classics like Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer.
Despite all that, the album has still managed to move closer to Radiohead. One of the best examples would be the title track, stylised as _Arc_. _Arc_ is best described as being the album’s Fitter Happier. It paints a grim picture of an overturned limousine containing a man in a grey suit (revealed through an extended version on the bonus disc to be the president of America), bemoaning his own foolishness. The track fades into gorgeous echoing harmonies that are easily overlooked, but contain a lot of hidden depth – something it has in common with many great Radiohead songs. Another track that reminds me of OK Computer is Duet, specifically the ending, where it seems like guitarist Alex Robertshaw is channeling Jonny Greenwood’s very spirit. You can practically hear that crazy Greenwood strumming technique.
My two favourite tracks though, are the unmistakeable work of Everything Everything. Choice Mountain is a true work of expert musicianship. Mike Spearman’s drumming that provided the coal in Man Alive’s engine is most prevalent on this (and perhaps Armourland), and the subtle blending of the instruments and vocals combined with Higgs’ phenomenal range has the band’s specific style stamped all over it. The other is Undrowned, something of an anomaly musically and is best described as a macabre nursery rhyme. It chronicles the career of an X-Factor contestant, from a runner prepping them before they meet The Judges (“If you try hard then you might get a part as a doe-eyed, impressionist mime”), right through to the moment when every stops caring, a desperate wail of “don’t leave!” accompanied by an impressive crescendo and an untraceable time signature. This song is also noteworthy because it contains possibly the only resolving chord in Everything Everything’s admittedly small back catalogue.
There is perhaps one track that misses for me – Feet for Hands, a chronicling of the final days of police officer David Rathband, who was blinded by a gunman in 2010 and eventually committed suicide. While the lyrics are touching and very beautiful in places, it features a regular acoustic guitar which I’m not sure fits their style. Once that moves away the song progresses into something I can get further behind. It may well prove to be the Leave The Engine Room of the album, which is a song on Man Alive that I often skipped before I realised how amazing the ending is.
All in all, I think this COULD be a better album than Man Alive, if only because it seems more focused, but there’s just too many magic moments on the debut, and too much baggage attached, that I might not be able to see it. At the very least, it’s proof that the first wasn’t a fluke, and that the band really are capable of producing excellent music, or music that I love anyway. Here’s to album three.