A brief look at what’s new in the world of music…
Interpol – El Pintpor
In the hiatus since 2010’s self-titled fourth studio album, we have been treated to both solo releases and side projects from New York City’s Interpol. Now, four years later, the band have returned with an album’s worth of new festival friendly music. El Pintor has a distinctly anthemic vibe to it: a toe-tapping display of song writing. The vocals are as strong as ever, however the album seems to lack a little direction at times. This criticism aside, it definitely is a grower.
Sinkane – Mean Love
Genre hopping Sinkane has released his fourth album Mean Love on City Slang Records. Dub frequencies spin under single-tracked vocals in a variety of guises. Dance hall, trip-hop and jazz all feature, as he skips from one school of music to another. Funk hooks set to a familiar 4-4 time cymbal beat. Moonstruck is another departure, where he ventures down an unexpected americana highway flavoured with a calypso rhythm. Fantastic stuff.
Ryan Adams – Ryan Adams
14th (not a typo.. 14th!) album by singer songwriter Ryan Adams, stretching back to Faithless Street by his former band Whiskeytown in 1995. Being such a prolific artist is often licence to release half-hearted albums, sandwiched between LPs that can be considered classics. This eponymous release is eagerly anticipated, as it’s been an unprecedented three years since his last album. Opener Gimme Something Good has what sounds like Dire Straits guitar offcuts underneath lackluster vocals. Kim sounds more like Bryan Adams than Ryan Adams, which is an indication of where this album goes. This is a sorry state of affairs for such a talented songwriter. Wrecking Ball has an ‘after midnight’, Heartbreaker style acoustic vibe to it, but with none of the feeling that made that album so special. I Just Might adds a bit of excitement, but unfortunately it’s a case of too little, too late.
Childhood – Lacuna
Lacuna is the debut album from Londonites Childhood. 1970’s psychedelia meets 1990’s Manc’ indie in a fusion that tells us that in music “right time, right place” counts for so much. Unfortunately this adds very little new to an already saturated genre. Solemn Skies is an ironically upbeat highlight to a largely unoffensive debut.
