FUCKING COURIER FUCKING COMPANIES! The Meursault album is currently in FUCKING DUMFRIES, whence I have had to despatch a courier to collect the bastard things and drive back here immediately. This means that assuming all goes well, which of course it always does when matters are urgent like this, I might just have them in my sweaty little mitts by half five. Maybe.
Anyway, to soothe my fevered brow, apart from a pint of neat gin with a little tiny squeeze of lime, I probably need some music. Some quiet music too – something calming. Breathe in… …and out… …and drink… …and drink… and breathe in… …and out.
Well, whatever happens, things tonight should be tremendous fun. I’ll be shit-faced by ten, presumably, but all in all I think it should be a brilliant night. So to warm up for the evening we shall have our now-traditional Five Friday Favourites, as pinched from GUT. De-lurk and take part, people, nothing you say has to be clever or witty or anything, just slap down your answers and watch us bicker amongst ourselves. And the offer is always there to write next Friday’s five if you want to – just bung me an email with your choices and I’ll use them.
1. Favourite Christmas Tradition.
2. Worst Christmas present some distant relative insists on giving you every fucking Christmas.
3. If it’s not turkey, then what?
4. Work’s Christmas night out: the best bit.
5. Work’s Christmas night out: the worst bit.
Ella Fitzgerald – I Get a Kick Out of You (Cinematic Orchestra Remix)
Howe Gelb – Nail in the Sky
(The Real) Tuesday Weld – Nightingales
Morning Bride – Isabelline
Ndidi Onukwulu – Goodnight JF
It is increasingly rare, these days, for me to be completely surprised by a band. Generally, either I’ve heard another blog mention them, heard a couple of songs on their MySpace page or somehow, somewhere, heard someone mention them some other way – at least once. Not so with Morning Bride however. There I was, innocently browsing 17 Seconds one morning when Ed hit me with this album, completely out of the blue.
The title pretty much tells you much of what you need to know about the kind of music you’re going to hear, although for some unfathomable reason it also reminds me slightly of the Britpop scene of the early 90s. I have no idea why, just something in the style, and maybe something in the clarity of the voice. Unlike the scuzzy, rough round the edges sound favoured by most people writing indie-blues these days, this is a crystal clear waterfall of an album. Mark Pearson’s deep, understated vocal provides the ideal counterpoint to the clean as a whistle perfection of the really quite amazing voice of Amity Dunn.
The guitars are wonderfully restrained, but the true highlight of the instrumentation is the evocative cello of Alexa Richardson. Like the songs themselves, there is nothing dirge-like about it, and it manages to be emotive and yet maintain a perfect lightness of touch. That is perhaps the most striking aspect of the album. Despite the blues there is no scratch or growl to it – it is light, clear and direct and yet displays real power at times.
Don’t ask me how I never saw this one coming. It’s that good I really feel rather ambushed by the whole thing – another to add to the long list of small albums on small labels that have ended up vastly superior to their major label counterparts so far in 2007.
Morning Bride – Replica
Morning Bride – Time Delay
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