The Low Miffs & Malcolm Ross
Having just complained about Dent May being overly arch and insincere I am about to praise an album which is rather arch and definitely very stylised, and I can imagine people feeling that to be a slightly false distinction. There is a cool veneer of old-school indie meets sixties beat combo, but if you’ve ever seen this band live you’ll know that there’s not the slightest distance between them, their music or their audience: they are fucking amazing.
This record has been gestating for some time now, as the Low Miffs rebuilt from something of a personnel shakeup a couple of years ago, started working with Malcolm Ross, and finally pulled together an album of new material after two excellent singles on Art Goes Pop. I confess I was somewhat guilty myself of taking my eye off what they were doing – the world thunders on at pace, and a year below the radar can see people move on pretty quickly, I guess. Then suddenly, this appeared.
I am not yet completely on board with all of the songs; Scarface isn’t really a favourite, but I really like almost everything else. The Man Who Took on Love and Won and Cressida are exuberant pop gems, where Kind of Keen and The Back of Midnight are laid back dive bar lotharios and Mankind is flamboyantly over-the-top, mixing Scott Walker with Franz Ferdinand* to produce a somewhat mental piece of cabaret art rock.
I am still coming to terms with the songs themselves, so for the moment the whole album hasn’t quite crystallised for me, and I am still hearing it as a collection of songs rather than as a single piece of work. It’s a collection of songs I really like though, so I reckon the rest will come with time. And if you have any doubts come and see them live and you will lose them – their album launch is at Cabaret Voltaire on Friday the 26th September.
The Low Miffs & Malcolm Ross – Cressida
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Malcolm Ross & the Low Miffs – Kind of Keen
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*Sorry lads, I know you probably won’t like this, but it’s not far from the truth.
Its a bit far for a one off gig, but between the vid you posted and those tracks….that’s enough for me to order the CD cheers.
After you posted the video for the man who took on love, I was hooked. This album is very enjoyable.
I thought I might well disagree with a lot of my readers on this one – nice to know you guys are enjoying it. I’m really looking forward to the album launch.
That’s pretty good. I remember when you featured this lot back in 2007 or 2008, and I wondered what had happened to them. They seem to have made good use of their time. The Franz Ferdinand comparison does seem pretty obvious, but I’m not sure why such a comparison would bother the band. FF’s first two records are really good I think. Scott Walker? Now that I gotta hear.
By the way, who’s Malcolm Ross? I’m familiar with Malcolm Ross the Canadian Holocaust denier, but I presume this is another Malcolm Ross.
Really enjoyed this album, think it’s fab, and I know the vinyl villain’s been enjoying this too…
No C&B, it’s the same guy. Only now he’s denying the Holocaust in the medium of popular song.
Actually, Malcolm Ross played guitar in Josef K, Orange Juice and I think Aztec Camera, which pretty much makes him Scottish indie royalty.
Wow, that’s an impressive resume. Too bad about the Holocaust denial.
Well never mind Scottish indie royalty, looking back at that list again, it pretty much makes him indie royalty, full stop.
Decent review from Neil Cooper up at The List http://www.list.co.uk/article/20973-the-low-miffs-and-malcolm-ross-malcolm-ross-and-the-low-miffs/
Isn’t this just Orange Juice for the 21st century without Edwyn Collins?
Not saying that’s a bad thing but the singer even sounds a bit like Collins.
It’s a bit more flamboyant than I remember Orange Juice being, wouldn’t you say?
Hard to get more flamboyant than Blue Boy.
Hey, bought this album in Glasgow last week and it’s pretty fab. Refreshing to say the least!