There’s an old gag about a Scottish boomerang – it doesn’t come back, it just sings about it.
So when Godfrey McFall richly intones “It’s you that I build Scottish ships for,” on closer ‘Sand’ it’s obvious, not that you could have missed it, that the London-based four-piece have roots rather further north than their current location.
There are eight tunes in this debut set, opening with ‘Auld Archie’, which focuses on a more international subject – age, and well, the misery of growing old. It, like the majority of the songs on the album, wallows in the less cheerful side of life, but boy does it make up for it in the delivery of a stirring anthem to raise goosebumps in the most unexpected places.
It’s true that majority of the tunes are downbeat, often drenched in melancholy strings, but a possibly false dawn comes with ‘It’s What’s Between Us That Makes Us Happy’ – opening with beautiful brass and a guitar line you could dance to, it’s – almost – joyous – “Give us love, give us loss, give us all that’s in between”.
McFall’s accent is less contrived than many from home-based acts just now – not that his stay down south has dulled his burr, just that his is a natural voice rather than one ramped up for the benefit of the bandwagon which, happily, seems to be tailing off a little now.
Other high points in a collection that has no real lows – quality-wise rather than mood, I should add – include ‘Dolores’, a very upbeat tune – although, it must be said Joy Division were upbeat a lot of the time.
Contrast this however with ‘This Is No Country For Old Men’: “The table’s set for a wedding now,” we’re informed, but you get the impression that either it’s a forced marriage, or one of the participants is already dead. Or both. It is however, epic, and it’s perhaps a surprise that it doesn’t end the album. That honour however goes to ‘Sand’ – a perhaps more understated song, but the one with that “Scottish ships” line. McFall again darkly intones: “Your tiny hands inside that box… to see what’s inside, what’s yours, what is mine,” and we’re left asking “What’s in the box?” like a gameshow contestant in the afterlife. As a closer it is, on reflection, entirely apt – it’s genuinely upbeat in pace and tone and a fitting ending to an album filled, despite the darkness, with hope.
Flutes are on the way, if not back home then into our hearts, and it looks like they’re here to stay.
Vinyl at uptheflutes.bigcartel.com
