This could well be the BM album of the year – yes, really!
It is a complete work from a singular band and contains a brace of electrifying and timeless tracks. Released by the former Stow College label Electric Honey it contains mainly new Pronto Mama material plus one or two previous singles and one or more reworked tracks from their two previous EPs. (They are playing Glasgow Art School on May 26 and have a good few festival dates lined up over the summer, go see them!)
BM has followed this lot over the past year and seen them in a variety of bizarre locations (from Kelvingrove “swimming pool” last summer to the Art School Bar, to BBC6 Music at King Tut’s to most recently a triumphant storming free gig for RSD upstairs at Dow’s…).
This disc has been soldered to the CD player in BM’s jalopy (still the best way to listen to music, have to take the stillettos off to drive, mind) for the past couple of weeks and still offers new insights into music and life with every listen. It is also no surprise to find that Paul Savage is “in the mix” on this record, having been been involved in some way or other with much of the best music recorded in Scotland since nineteen-canteen.
This WestofScotland six piece have (it has been said) an unconventional instrumental approach, with two lead singers, a brass section, sometimes 3 or 4 on keyboards and a drummer who Keith Moon might struggle to keep up with. They do epic, soulful, jazzy, funky, bleakcore, sarcasm – often all in the one song. They are amazing!
So let’s get to it – opener ‘Bottom Feeder’ starts on a thumbed guitar strum, almost deceptively calm (except for the words, “slit my throat”, “nothing is really real”) then fires off precision-guided guitar riffs a couple of times, as if a warning for what is to come.
Track 2 ‘Cold Arab Spring’ is more inyerface, with repeated pummelling of the drums and a glorious guitar riff, then some clapping stops to emphasise the immaculate timing of the whole thing. The melody rips up the notes, the busy chorus takes us into (and BM hesitates to say this) Steely Dan territory, but let’s just say that they channel the Dan in the best possible way, and then some.
Previous single ‘Arabesque’ is the first of the stone classics on this record, and why the heck can’t this crummy year 2017 produce some material which will remembered for a long time indeed, well this will be! The chorus is a thing of wonder, hopefully to be yelled back at them at festivals throughout the land, it certainly deserves to be… There are verbal puns and lyrical quips among the pure jazz hands, and it sounds almost effortless as well, hitting a purple patch towards the end. This is the sound of pure joy, blooming Earth Wind and Fire vs Aztec Camera, phew well maybe. BM is overcome, and then we come down via cool waves of synth, hand BM a towel, need to take a cold shower…
It is worth saying at this point that this album is in for the long-haul and rewards the listener with layers of incredible music – ‘Rubber’ starts quite low key but again the chorus is pretty upbeat – and ends up in a mad funk workout which just infects with its joy – any joy, indeed. Eargasm achieved – and it is even better live, BM can tell you.
Track 5 is the dark horse of the album, and a total revelation. “Double-speak” starts with an early New Order-esque double time guitar strum and dark vocals then lifts into something totally new, rattling drums just blow it up, but it also orchestrated, not just some crappy indie road to nowhere – there is form and tempo here, incredibly sophisticated for a first album, it just surpasses everything. Eargasm no 2, exhausted already.
This could be a really long review, like too long, so if it is ok, BM is going to scud over a couple of tracks here, all great (‘One Trick Pony’ is incredible, a real blaster, and ‘Sentiment’ is a four part harmony without instruments, lovely and a good stopgap during electrical failures, ‘All Your Insides’ is another peach), and skip to track 8 ‘The Deserter’ which is somewhat more gritty, “overdose in a close”. This may be some sort of manifesto and if it is, well fair play. The sentiments are heartfelt, and “Any joy” is also mentioned, ha! There are rips of guitar noise inbetween the heavily curated instrumental sections, scored in a superior way even between the “cock and fanny” words – BM is lost for words here.
And yet it gets better – ‘Bully March’is a miasma of doomy synth and squealing guitars while the drums pick up a signature of death – this surpasses everything else on this already incomparable album – “who knows the answer?” intone the vocals, while the sound goes from better to even better – the ultimate chorus sends shivers, even now, eargasm and bodygasm number 3. The skill that this band has with dynamics of sound, coupled with the playing and the words truly makes BM cry with joy, and she is an old bird, it takes a lot – this is unique and the ridiculous keyboard solos that stream out at the end are truly enormous – “I hold ma hand to God”.
‘You’re Only Human’ is more playful and brash but we are back to God again, as the instrumental arsenal is again put through the wringer, and we have hard-jazz breakdowns all over the place.
The penultimate tune slows things down quite a bit, “Bennie” may about an aged relative, and is moving and soft-hearted – these guys can really do it all, it is a lovely track. Closer ‘Memory Song’ is also reflective and musing on the past, childhood maybe – and ends a song-suite, an album, an immense achievement which has given this reviewer the mostest pleasure of the year to date – as well as the music it is the humanity of these guys that is the really important thing here – enough said.
So album of the year so far, but BM has not heard that Ed Sheeran one yet, so ye never know, boys, keep it keen!