Kingsbury Manx - Let You Down
by Andrew Carver
published: 17 / 12 / 2001
Label:
City Slang
Format: CD
intro
The Kingsbury Manx made a mild splash in 2000 with their first album, a remarkably well-crafted body of slightly folky, slightly psychedelic pop music.The exact same description could be applied to th
The Kingsbury Manx made a mild splash in 2000 with their first album, a remarkably well-crafted body of slightly folky, slightly psychedelic pop music.The exact same description could be applied to their sophomore effort. The band’s mild-mannered approach does demand some attention from the listener —but this is easily granted since everything is so pleasant to lend an ear to. Indeed, the album is so well-crafted, makes so few (actually no) attempts to exceed the talents of its makers that it flirts with anonymity ... on first listen, anyway. The band has toured with Elliot Smith, and one can hear how someone would think they’d be a perfect match. There’s also a wee touch of Beach Boys in the mix and a smattering of Elephant Sixishness at its most sober. A really, really restrained Outrageous Cherry, maybe? In mood, the music is like a river sparkling with sunlight on top but deceptively deep, there is a sombre, melancholy feel running through the tracks. Harmonized vocals over strummed and picked acoustic guitar are the raw materials of the Manx sound; the band also boasts a fine drummer, who paces the other musicians with remarkable exactitude and neatly fills in the gaps with brushwork. Some songs, like 'Sleeping on the Ground' and 'Et tu Kitte' stick to basics (although the latter does boast some fingerpicking — on a banjo, I think) but there is variety here: Pleasant chiming notes reverberate through 'Porchlight', a deep thrum of strings lurking in the background. On the title track there’s some fairly heavy fuzzed, strange psychedelic throb appears on 'Rustic Stairs', and there’s some out-and-out freakout guitar on 'Patterns Shape The Mile'. In sum, the Manx have produced another album that is pretty instead of beautiful, heartfelt instead of heartrending. It probably won’t be anyone’s favourite album, but I imagine it’ll do the trick most days.
Track Listing:-
1 Let you down2 Porchlight
3 Simplify
4 Et tu kitte
5 Rustic stairs
6 Sleeping on the ground
7 Patterns shape the mile
8 Courtyard waltz
9 Arun
10 New evil
11 Baby you're a dead man
12 Do what you're told
Label Links:-
http://www.cityslang.com/splash/https://www.facebook.com/cityslang
https://plus.google.com/+CitySlang/videos
https://twitter.com/cityslang
https://www.youtube.com/user/CitySlang
reviews |
The Kingsbury Manx (2001) |
Occasionally, very occasionally, I buy albums by bands completely unknown to me. Yes, maybe it is a bit stupid with the high price of CDs, but the few I've bought that way have not let me down yet. Pe |
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