The sound of Scotland's Now Wakes The Sea (NWtS) is organic, raw and deliberately imperfect.
The tone, rather than the detail, of the abstract lyrics creates a bleak atmosphere that is enough to make Aiden Moffat of Arab Strap seem like the life and soul of the party.
This trio from Bo'ness are Alan McCormack (guitar/vocals), Andy Truscott (drums) and Thomas Campbell (bass).
With elements of crude grunge, lo-fi indie and analogue electronica, theirs is music which reflects a struggle to overcome personal depression and the bland mediocrity of mainstream pop.
Alan McCormack says "I like exploring the darker side of life" and, as if to prove his point, he reveals plans on Scottish Blood Reversal to "get drunk and kill our memories" .
Mixing sparse, fragmented instrumental passages with random introspective verse this album is as ramshackle as an early Fall record. Yet while McCormack may share Mark E. Smith's mithering gibes against the modernity these missives are delivered with a less bolshie attitude. You don't have to understand precisely what his gripes are to get the idea that he is not satisfied with his lot.
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He leaves listeners to make what they will of the bizarre imagery of The Shore And The Coastline in which our anti-hero is to be found picking chestnuts with bloodshot eyes while contending with blizzards and tempests.
Bildungsroman novels are those which typically conclude on a positive note but this album ends as pessimistically as it begins. The hidden track (Shining Bright O'er Land And Sea) is their very own disintegration tape.
Plenty of clouds and very few silver linings, in other words, but it is all delivered in such a singular manner that it manages to suggest there may be glimmers of hope in the despair.
A record that gets under the skin in a positive way.
NWtS's website
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