My first thoughts on hearing the opening to ‘Beats Like Distant Tides’ ran along the lines of ‘where is this going?’ It starts with a gentle was of sound, sea on sand and an ice cream van, but it soon warps and dissolves before being carried away on a squalling bluster of blurred guitar and urgent drumming, melded to a buoyant bassline and a vintage indie vocal that simultaneously cocks nods to Morrissey and Ian Curtis. Reading that back, it probably sounds fucking awful, but it really isn’t: far from it, in fact. it’s at once ‘classic’, ‘vintage’, and ‘fresh’. Quite a feat, and yes, those adjectives ultimately define the album as a whole.
There are heavy hints of Suede throughout, with lashings of psychedelia making for a heady musical cocktail. The colossal sax break on ‘On A Nelson Skyline’ brings a sleek 80s vibe to add to the eclectic feel, while the wide-eyed sweeps of ‘Money to Money’ surely has bigger venues beckoning. You might be forgiven for thinking that it whiffs of calculated cynicism, and it’s clear they know how to work a surging chorus and to how to power a psychedelic indie anthem, but there’s a lot more behind the tunes, and what really carries ‘Coastal Tones’ is the energy.
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The album’s final song, ‘Thirtysomething Lovesick Ballad’ is a tense, semi-spoken word track indebted to Pulp’s ‘Sheffield: Sex City’. Uncomfortable and glorious, it builds to a surging dark disco climax.
It all adds up to a strong and engaging album of a rare quality.
Orphan Boy Online
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