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album // Nightbird
As a fan, I find myself getting very nervous ahead
of the release of a new Erasure album - not because I don't
think it will meet my expectations, but because of the general intolerance
of the fickle music press. I've read two reviews of Nightbird,
one in Mojo and the other in The Times and both gave this album
two out of five; strangely consistent, both came to the same conclusion
- that Erasure no longer seem prepared to produce classic, disco-friendly
material. Granted, Nightbird is quite a sedate and sensual
album, but most of the songs on their albums have been this way
anyway. And, for the record, Nightbird includes some sterling,
confident fast-paced tracks, such as the euphoric 'I'll Be There'
and 'All This Time Still Falling Out Of Love'. So there.
Nightbird is Andy Bell and Vince
Clarke's twelfth album since forming as Erasure some twenty
years ago, and it's the first to contain new material since 2000's
serene but unsuccessful Loveboat. The two years since the
previous album, Other People's Songs, have seen some significant
changes inside and outside Erasure - Vince has traded in his analogue
synths for software synths (which he makes sound just like analogue
synths!), got married and upped sticks to live in New York; Andy
on the other hand tragically confessed that he was diagnosed with
HIV in 1998, only revelaing this at the back end of 2004. And yet
some things remain broadly consistent - Erasure remain experts in
their craft, writing classic melodic electronic pop with soul and
emotional depth. Nightbird was produced by Erasure themselves
with additional vocal production (and occasional backing vocals)
from Jill Thompson, programmed by Vince Clarke and Jon Collyer,
and given a sparkling mix by Tom Elmhirst, who has worked with many
of today's pop acts. The track 'Sweet Surrender' was mixed by Vince
and Mark Saunders, with whom the duo worked with on Crackers
International and Wild! With Nightbird it feels
like a confident, strong Erasure stepping out again, defiant and
optimistic, producing some of their best material to date. But I'm
a fan, and therefore fundamentally biased.
Opening with the maudlin 'Whoa-oa's of the
longing, desperate 'No Doubt', Erasure hit the ground running. The
vocals are soaked in rwverb and Andy has rarely sounded so confident.
'Here I Go Impossible Again' strolls in on an elastic electro bassline
while swirls of spiralling, sweet melodies weave their way around
Andy's reflective, wistful vocal as it gathers pace. It's modern
and retro simultaneously, unspeakably linking the 1980s to the 2000s.
'Let's Take One More Rocket To The Moon' is as treacly beautiful
as anything I've ever heard, blissfully soaring with its tender
vocal and floating synths. There's a classic, minimal Vince Clarke
breakdown in the centre which, when the track rebuilds and washes
back in, simply but effectively adds emotional gravitas.
The austere 'Breathe' gives way to the stunning
'I'll Be There', which features trance-like synth riffs with very
dancefloor-friendly filtering, beats and euphoric vocals. It's the
fastest song the boys have done for ages, and there's a melodic
hook in there that takes you right back to 'March On Down The Line'.
'Because Our Love Is Real' is an achingly tender ballad with subtle
synth phrasing and a warm, emotionally-enriched vocal. One can't
help but feel that it's tales of illness and being glad to be alive
is all the more powerful for being based on experience. Next single
'Don't Say You Love Me' is majestic, waltz-y discopop (think of
a vocal added to the I Say I Say I Say B-side 'Dodo'), and
should be a hit.
'All This Time Still Falling Out Of Love' is a slab
of euro-disco which has a vocal theme reminiscent of 'Enough Is
Enough', which Andy famously performed at the 1992 Brit Awards with
k d lang. It's a positive, confident and dance-able number
with some of Vince's best sounds - that melody and bassline is urgent
and gripping. It's the best fast song they've done since, ooh, 'I'll
Be There'. Regret fuels 'I Broke It All In Two', an absorbing melancholy
track with cascading synth noises and a lovely middle eight.
'Sweet Surrender' is shimmering upbeat pop again
- another classic Clarke/Bell composition, melodically insistent
and grandly sung with barely a pause for breath. Erasure tracks
don't come much more optimistic than this, even with a line like
'I feel old like a dying rose in amber'.
'I Bet You're Mad At Me' has serene, downbeat synths
and a swirling melodic visage; tender, sad, wonderful - the adjectives
I've uttered about Erasure a thousand times or more. Far from a
lacklustre return to centrestage, Nightbird is the kind of statement
Erasure alone can make, and it really feels like this is just a
start of an emotional journey that's second to none. There really
isn't anything to be nervous about.
single // Breathe
The arrival of a new Erasure track is always
an emotional experience for me, and 'Breathe' - from the new album
Nightbird - is no exception. If Erasure's classic 'formula',
for want of a better word, is to write songs that trade in the common
currency of love and heartbreak, all backed by melodic electronics,
then 'Breathe' over-delivers. It is truly one of the duo's most
saddening, moving and epic songs. Andy sings about regret,
living one's life at the expense of others and ultimately being
rejected. His vocal truly soars on this song, pushed upward by bold
swells of backing vocals. Vince provides a deep, dark, pulsing
web of overlapping and intertwined synths, nudged along by a bassline
that gets more prominent as the track reaches its conclusion, wherein
Andy changes the words to 'Can't live without you / I can't live
with you', one of the most final, loaded lyrics since 'Spiralling'.
It's the chorus, however, that is the key to this track's emotional,
anthemic quality because of its descending harmonics, giving the
sharp twist from anthemic to melancholic. 'Breathe' was originally
made available as a one-track download in November 2004.
CD1 contains two tracks and therefore should retail
for no more than £1.99. It contains the album version of 'Breathe',
which is strangely shorter than the radio edit, featuring some warped
vocal effects over the bassline and beats at the start of the track.
CD1 also features the new track, 'Gone Crazy', a simple, minimal
ballad with many of the elements of a classic Erasure love song
- heartfelt, emotional and wrenching lyrics, a typically quirky
Vince keyboard melody and a simple rhythm. However, it's also beautifully
sparse, shedding some of the layered synth intricacies of the duo's
post-Chorus material. It's exceptional - and it's only a B-side!
A promising sign for the album, methinks.
CD2 commences with a remix by Lee Monteverde's LMC,
who have recently been in the UK top 40 with a horribly twee dance
track blending together Whitney Houston and U2 - yuck. Instrumentally,
it's not bad, uses a lot of the original track but, being quite
a few BPM faster than the original, Andy sounds like a chipmunk
- yuck. Track two finds Andy Bell hooking up with Philip Larsen
and Chris Smith of Manhattan Clique to remix 'Breathe'. Manhattan
Clique supported Erasure on the first leg of their 2003 UK tour
with a DJ set that mixed in live samples and drum machines. They
went down a storm, and I understand Andy is working with them on
a solo project. Unsurprisingly, their mix is far superior to LMC's
- running at more of a sensible speed, with a crisp 4/4 beat and
an even more elastic bassline than the original, very Moroder-esque.
The line '27 times I paint the city in lights' is featured
several times, and it's also repeated twice in the third version
on CD2, an acoustic version remixed by Steve Walsh (who also plays
all guitars). What can I say? As with any Erasure track, it sounds
great as a simple acoustic song, and satisfies Erasure fans' (ironic,
I've always though) need for acoustic versions. Personally, given
that Vince doesn't appear on this one at all, I think I'll settle
for the original, thanks. CD2 also includes Digimpro software, which
allows you to remix 'Breathe' for yourself - neat.
The DVD features the radio mix (which commences
with a lovely synth cascading synth and vocal melody), the futuristic
BladeRunner-esque video for 'Breathe' directed by Christian Bevilacqua,
and the new track 'Mr Gribber And His Amazing Cat' (recorded in
Brooklyn, which I believe is Vince's new home). The video is an
emotive piece of futurism, finding a small homeless girl trying
to sell matches on the streets, the boxes of which spill open as
passers by knock them out of her hands, and the matches begin to
move on their own. It's very touching. 'Mr Gribber And His Amazing
Cat', despite its cartoon-ish name, is an atmospheric, ambient synth-fest
driven along by a beatiful piano line, more in keeping with Vince's
work with Martyn Ware. Sadly, you will either need to record
the audio from your DVD device onto a CD, or buy the US maxi-single
which includes all the tracks, and an exclusive Pete 'Farley &'
Heller mix - which will also boost the track's sucess Stateside
- these Mute folk aren't stupid, you know......
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