The Great CD Listen Through, Part XI

[the_eggwhite]

Cranes - Wings of Joy
This has always been my least favourite Cranes album, due to it being quite sparse, bleak and miserable. But then, I may have been unduly harsh about it... so I'm going to give it a listen thorugh anyway.

"Watersong" runs with the bleak and depressing vibe right from the outset... but it somehow manages to be bleak and depressing with a bit of whimsy. I'm not sure how it does it, but it manages. Of course, then "Thursday" undercuts it with a slow thrumming bassline, and Alison Shaw's distinctive voice floating over the top... with guitar slowly rolling in on top.

"Living and Breathing" continues the slide down into miserableness, with the bassline and unusual voice taking the fore at first, then being joined by some less-than joyous minor-key piano. This is all eventually joined by some distorted, tortured guitar floating in over the top... sounding not unlike the shrieking of traintracks in places.

"Leaves of Summer" throws the drums and piano forward in front of distorted guitars and leaves the vocals floating around somewhere in between. As ever, Alison's voice has to be treated just as an instrument, as nobody has any clue what she's actually singing.

"Starblood" is something of a fan favourite, and I can see why. Drums and distoted guitars provide a wall of sound over the top. If there's an archetypal "early cranes" song, this is probably it.

The mood sounds like it's about to lift with "Tomorrow's Tears", with lighter piano and no sign of distorted guitars, but it's still a very bleak song. The album closes out with "Adoration", which, thankfully, has a bit of an uplifting, hopeful vibe to it.

I may not be selling this very well, but it's actually a very strong album. It's just also very bleak.

In short, Wings of Joy has a definite vibe as an album... and I wouldn't call it cheery.

Verdict: Keep - bleak soundtracks have their place

I think I've now passed the lowest point in the trough of bleakness... If there's a more bleak album left in my collection, I can't think of it right now.


Cranes - Forever
Whilst I knew about Cranes before, this is the first album I actually picked up... originally on tape, and later on CD as well. It's a little more cheery than previous outings, but still not exactly massively upbeat. It also sets the trend that each Cranes album will have a different feel to the previous ones. Self-Non-Self was bleak and almost industrial, Wings of Joy made heavy use of piano to give a more melancholy feel... this one is much heavier on accoustic guitars.

Opener "Everywhere" does a fantastic job of setting the tone for the album. Quite pacey, with a mix of clean accoustic guitar work mixed with their trademark distorted sounds. "Cloudless" keeps things light, ethereal and mostly accoustic... and then the song that's probably the most well known from the album "Jewel" kicks in. It's one of those songs that lyrically sounds like it ought to be cheerful in places, but the delivery makes it not quite get there. When the distorted guitars kick in, sounding like they're in the distance, it's a reminder that you are in fact listening to a cranes album. A reminder which is backed up by "Far Away" - which wouldn't have been out of place on Wings of Joy.

"Adrift" shows hints of returning to "Self-Non-Self" territory, but with a much cleaner sound that makes it feel quite different as well. You can actually make out words in the vocals, which is quite a departure from earlier stuff. In fact, I'd say that in general the vocals on this album are easier to make out. They're still quite a way back in the mix and quite feint, but they're cleaner and clearer with it.

"Golden" is probably the least cheery song on the album, with a lot of plaintive strings... and the album is finally closed out with another not-entirely-cheery number - "Rainbows". However, Rainbows, whilst slow, has a good meaty (and rather slow paced) bassline which keeps thing moving... and the song does pick up as it goes, lifting itself out of being a plodding miserable number into something verging on hopeful.

Overall, this remains one of my favourite Cranes albums.

Verdict: Keep