For his second solo album, The National’s singer Matt Berninger worked with producer/co-writer Sean O’Brien. The album is a mixture of mostly midtempo, atmospheric tracks with a bit of an electronic touch, some that sound like an elder indie rock stateman, and others that lean more country. “Little By Little” adds a bit of acoustic guitar and a little twang to the proceedings. “Nowhere Special” moves toward indie rock statesman with it’s stream of conscious lyrics.
Over guitars, “Bonnet of Pins” explores the Berninger favourite topic of a girl drinking at a party who’s character is further explored on the very good “Silver Jeep”. Like “Frozen Oranges”, first song “Inland Ocean” mentions Indiana and wanting to get away from everything. “I flew to Indiana to see a friend… wrap me up in your summer sheets”. On Get Sunk, Berninger is able to explore more lowkey songs whose sound don’t have to fill hockey arenas on a nightly basis.
The recording of Low was yet another transition in the extraordinary life of David Bowie. Moving to Paris with Iggy Pop to escape drug addiction, the pair began work Pop’s solo album, The Idiot. Once that wrapped up, Bowie started work on Low with Tony Visconti and ambient wizard, Brian Eno. First recording in Paris before moving to Germany, this was the start on what has become known as the Berlin trilogy.
Split between two sides, the first side features mostly quick snappy rock songs with an avant garde bent. “Speed of Life” is the instrumental opener, a solid 70s rock song with guitars and synths working away in the background. Both “Breaking Glass” and “What In The World” has some great guitar work from Carlos Alomar. “Sound and Vision” was one of only two singles from the album, reaching top 3 in the UK. With an appearance from Mary Hopkins, the song has a bit of funk, recalling several tracks on the “Young Americans” album. “Always Crashing In The Same Car” sounds like the negative answer to Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn”, one where Bowie never gets out of the driveway, going around in circles while constantly making the same mistakes.
In contrast to the song fragments on side one, the second side sees lengthier soundscapes. “Warszawa” is a moody, oppressive piece named after the Polish city. Bowie plays all the instruments on “Weeping Wall” who’s synths and xylophone stay somewhat hopeful, never quote going down the dark/horror path they could before “Subterraneans” closes out the album. Conceived during the time of The Man Who Fell to Earth movie, synths are used like orchestral strings to draw out the cinematic feel of the track.
Listening to Low almost 50 year later, the the genre expanding sounds by a major selling artist makes it a seminal piece. Its influence can be felt throughout the next several decades of music, notably on bands like Joy Division right through to Radiohead’s Kid A and many of the cold wave artists that have expanded on it’s icy synth sounds. Changing styles once again, on the album Low, Bowie moved his musical ambitions from the soul of America to the cold concrete of Europe.
After releasing a couple well received albums as Piroshka, Miki Berenyi returns as the Miki Berenyi Trio along with partner Kevin “Moose” McKillop and guitarist Oliver Cherer. Without an actual drummer in the band, the trio instead opts for programmed drums that on most tracks has a warm sound vs sounding electronic. Singing in a falsetto, “Kinch” takes the listener back to the 90s, sounding like Berenyi’s band Lush. “Big I Am” explores the Lush trope of taking a guy down a few pegs. “Vertigo” tells us to accept life and just breathe.
Tripla is bookended by the two best tracks. “8th Deadly Sin” shows off some stellar shoegaze guitar riffing as Berenyi sings, “You can’t see what I see/I’m gonna have to spell it out”. Album closer “Ubique” is dreamier with a great beat, terrific vocals, and the line “Every deception breaks my heart”. Though it has a couple skippable tracks, Tripla is another fine late career turn from the former Lush singer.
Saint Etienne have been a going concern for 35 years. Started by childhood chums Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, the duo would later add vocalist Sarah Cracknell to the lineup. Released in 1991 on Heavenly Records, the band’s debut Foxbase Alpha mixes 60s pop, British indie rock, and the beats of the house scene. The deluxe version of the album released in 2016 contains several cover versions with one of the best appearing right away with the Neil Young song, “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” sung by Moira Lambert. This club version of the song rides a groove with a solid bass, keyboards, and further down the line, a drum breakdown.
“Girl VII” puts acoustic guitar over a throbbing beat that lyrically lists several cities including beautiful Winnipeg(!) and the repeated mysterious line of “Carrie’s got a boyfriend”. “Spring” and the single “Nothing Can Stop Us Now” are sunny bits of 60s pop over 90s beats. These tracks are interspersed with more dancefloor ready tracks like the seven minute “Stoned To Say The Least” and atmospheric “She’s The One”. Foxbase Alpha is an eclectic mix of styles that contains a youthful charm and energy, along with its great songs.
The deluxe version adds another 14 songs on a second disc of A and B sides + rarities. It’s extraordinary that the band’s bonus disc holds up as well as the main album. Continuing it’s dancefloor mixing on tracks like “Chase HQ” and “Sally Space”, the attention really goes to two songs. “People Get Real” is a bass heavy, atmospheric disco soul number with a spine tingling vocal from Sarah. The band’s second single is a showstopping cover of Field Mice’s track, “Kiss and Make Up”.
Sung by Donna Savage, the song captures the feeling and emotion of a couple getting back together after a fight. The music is upbeat with a bit of a faux reggae beat but it’s Savage’s vocal that stands out – deadpan that sounds slightly hurt but also excited to get over an argument. It’s an amazing track among many on the bonus disc. For good measure, the band adds Sarah Cracknell’s more laidback version before the disc closes with the seven-minute instrumental, “Sky’s Dead”.
In between their second and third albums, The National released the Cherry Tree EP. The first three songs mention drinking. “Wasp Nest” tells someone that “you’re cursing up a storm in a cocktail dress”, chaos over an acoustic guitar. “All The Wine” would also appear on next years Alligator album and “All Dolled-Up in Straps” adds some mournful strings that would appear a few more times.
The title track adds some intense drumming on a song where singer Matt Berninger sings that “loose lips sink ships” and “About Today” is an emotional song, asking “how close am I to losing you?”. The album then closes with the addition of Padma Newsome on the acoustically inclined “Reasonable Man (I Don’t Mind)”. The Dessner and Devendorf brothers along with Matt Berninger crafted several really good songs for this 28 minute sampler. For many fans thinking of digging deeper into the catalogue, this is more representative of their later sound and could act as their true debut.
The Light Appears 