Hifi Sean & David McAlmont "Happy Ending" (2022)

Happy Ending

release date: Sep. 23, 2022

format: digital (12 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,92]

producer: Hifi Sean

label: Plastique Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Happy Ending" - 2. "The Fever" - 3. "Beautiful" - 5. "All in the World" - 6. "Diamond Dust" - 7. "The Skin I'm In" - 8. "Maybe" - 10. "Real Thoughts in Real Time"

Studio album debut by a duo who appears to have been working together for a few years. The album was released as double vinyl album in Sep. 2022 and on cd and for digital download via bandcamp on Feb 3. 2023.

Hifi Sean (aka Sean Dickson) is a producer and composer and McAlmont - apart from being an art historian (a degree he took in 2016) - simply possesses one of Britain's finest voices. Their first single release was "Bunker to Bunker" (Jun. 2020), but McAlmont collaborated with Hifi Sean on the track "Like Josephine Baker" appearing on Sean's 2016 solo album Ft.. During 2022 they have released a number of singles that have all been included on this one

McAlmont has made it his thing doing collaborations. I guess, he just needs to work with a strong musical composer and arranger, as his own strengths are as songwriter and vocalist. He became an international star working with Bernard Butler on their two albums The Sound of McAlmont & Butler (1995) and on Bring It Back (2002), and then he has made collaborative releases from time to time, typically with a pianist and composer: the albums The Glare (2009) with Michael Nyman, under the name of David McAlmont & Michael Nyman, Smokehouse E.P. (2011) with Guy Davies, released under their band name Fingersnap, and The Last Bohemians (2019) with Alex Webb under the name of McAlmont & Webb.

Happy Ending is a fine soul-fueled combo of house, electro-pop and neo-soul with bits of disco and jazz, and despite the huge combo of styles, it works more than ordinarily well, I think, and primarily thanks to the vocal performances by McAlmont, who shines nicely on most of the tracks but also thanks to Sean Dickson's arranger/producer skills. Happy Endings is such a warm and lovely album.

[ The Line of Best Fit👍, Mojo 4 / 5, MusicOMH 4,5 / 5, The Guardian👎 3 / 5 stars ]

Modest Mouse "The Golden Casket" (2021)

The Golden Casket

release date: Jun. 25, 2021

format: digital (12 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,64]

producer: Dave Sardy, Jacknife Lee

label: Epic Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Fuck Your Acid Trip" - 2. "We Are Between" (live) - 3. "We’re Lucky" - 5. "Wooden Soldiers" - 7. "The Sun Hasn't Left" - 8. "Lace Your Shoes" - 9. "Never Fuck a Spider on the Fly" - 10. "Leave a Light On" - 11. "Japanese Trees" - 12. "Back to the Middle"

7th studio album by Modest Mouse follows almost six full years after Strangers to Ourselves (Mar. 2015), and once again the line-up is an issue with Darrin Wiener having briefly been a band member but more seriously, Lisa Molinaro and Jim Fairchild both left the band shortly prior to the album release; and then 1½ years later, founding member Jeremiah Green died.

Stylistically, the album introduces a new sound thanks to the inclusion of electronic instrumentation and a neo-psychedelic tone. Drum machines, synths, and musical loops provides the album with a more modern expression, although, traditional rock instrumentation is still very much part of the band's sound - the focus has just changed making more room for electronics. Isaac Brock still fills out every song with his characteristic vocal, and as is mostly the case with this band the single tracks may point in various directions but the album still maintains a solid sensation of a coherent product.

Not a lot binds this together with Good News for People... from 2004, or any earlier albums for that matter, but it follows closely on the same path as the 2015 album. In that regard the band has always been evolving - constantly moving further down their own evolutionary road and it's not too difficult to follow the whole progression. Their biggest stylistic leap happened when they released their best-selling 2004 album and since then the road has been a bit more predictable, which by no means is the same as uninspiring 'cause Modest Mouse is still a most daring band who could easily have chosen to go with a broader fan base.

I generally enjoy this new album. It's really good, still growing on me - it hasn't reached 'exceptional' nor 'great' but it doesn't appear to have any fillers, so it's definitely worth knowing.

[ 👍Pitchfork 7,3 / 10, NME 5 / 5, Slant Magazine 4 / 5, 👎Rolling Stone 2,5 / 5 stars ]

And Also the Trees "The Bone Carver" (2022)

The Bone Carver

release date: Sep. 9, 2022

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,48]

producer: Matthew Devenish

label: AATT - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "In a Bed in Yugoslavia" (official video) - 2. "Beyond Action and Reaction" - 4. "The Girl Who Walks the City" - 5. "The Book Burners" - 7. "Another Town Another Face" - 8. "Last of the Larkspurs" - 9. "The Bone Carver"

15th studio album by And Also the Trees following 6½ years after Born Into the Waves (Mar. 2016). The album doesn't actually mention producer credits but suffice to mention recording engineer Matthew Devenish, who have worked with the band as mixer and recording engineer since the making of Further From the Truth (2003). The band's bassist since (Listen For) The Rag and Bone Man (2007) Ian Jenkins has here been replaced by Grant Gordon.

Stylewise, this is yet another darkwave-founded release as the natural follow-up to the band's last two albums. It adds a few more fine tracks to a long list of compositions that are linked to an original gothic rock scene of the 80s without sounding as if recorded back then, but the band doesn't exactly hand us a bunch of challening new material, and in that way it has become increasingly more difficult to tell their recent albums from one another. In one way, it's a band that positively stays true to its original sound and then neither seems to be really interested in artistic progression. Another positive side to it, is the quality of the songs, as it appears without any fillers.

Still, The Bone Carver is a worthwhile listen.