Album: Beachcomber's Windowsill
Label: 4AD
Release date: 24 May 2010
Peak chart position/sales: (UK) #14, Silver (IRE) #43
RATING: 3.5/5 stars
British alt-indie folk band Stornoway were first brought to my attention some months ago by the awesome FloraH of Not Another Rainy Sunday (go read her blog as well!) and once I heard the beautiful hybrid of Villagers, Mumford & Sons and Hungry Kids Of Hungary that is the Stornoway sound, I couldn't wait to bring them to your attention, too. When it comes to indie music, I am well and truly over the dark tones and haunting angst - I like my alternative music uncomplicated and mostly sweet, preferably paired with pyjamas and brunch on a Saturday morning, thank you very much. Therefore, Stornoway's debut album Beachcomber's Windowsill ensured that I had a very pleasant start to the weekend.
I'm going to be honest: I'm completely in love with Brian Briggs' voice. When his unapologetically confident, pure vocal joined with throbbing bass on opening track "Zorbing", I knew the album was going to be a winner. Infectiously groovy "I Saw You Blink" only improved my mood, but it was the tender retrospection and whimsical melody of "Fuel Up"that sealed the deal. The plain and simple truth is that this is a perfectly lovely album. With topics ranging from childhood sweethearts to confused life directions, Stornoway constantly surprise with a happily broad array of instrumentation, adding strings, brass, synthesisers and a church bell to the usual folk-rock set-up.
Sadly, the album slumps for a bit at tracks 6-9 and I start to worry that the genius has passed. Of course, if I wasn't expecting at least some banjo I'd have to be quite naive, but the country tones and unison chorus of "We Are The Battery Human" are a touch too comical for my liking, despite the pithy anti-technology lyrics. The raucous "Watching Birds" pumps adrenalin into the album with a stomp-worthy pace and chugging electric guitar, although Briggs' voice lacks the grit needed to carry the vocals completely convincingly. But then "The End Of The Movie" takes my breath away a little. A touching ode to love (and perhaps life?) lost, Briggs' voice soars above moody strings and acoustic strums: "I climbed upstairs for the final scene".
For a band so young, Stornoway have a beautiful sound together, but much as the album title suggests, they have simply collected pieces of inspiration from the aforementioned alt/indie/folk successes and brought it all together in a very pretty way. It's a cautious start, but though I'm curious to see whether Stornoway will find 'their' sound, for now, it's nice to have a band that fills the space between folk rock and alt-indie quite beautifully. I'm not going to over-think it all - I enjoyed this album an awful lot.
Is it worth my $$$? - While the track listing has its weak points (the only reason it got a 3.5 instead of a 4), it does work well as a cohesive album and probably deserves to be listened to as such. Your Saturday/pyjama playlist will thank you.
Listen to: Zorbing, Fuel Up, The End Of The Movie
glad you liked the album! I guess much of their appeal is how humble they are - really lovely guys.I've interviewed both the drummer and bassist on seperate occasions, you can check out the interviews on my blog if you're interested :)
ReplyDeleteFlora x
Yes, thanks so much for recommending it - wish I'd listened sooner!! :P That's awesome that you've actually been able to conduct interviews with some of the members, I'll definitely check those posts out :D Thanks for reading!
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