Angels Of Light - Everything Is Good Here / Please Come Home
by Andrew Carver
published: 28 / 9 / 2003
Label:
Young God Records
Format: CD
intro
Latest double album from former Swans mastermind M.Gira's new band, which finds him making "a successful attempt at crafting a more accessible sound"
The slowly picked acoustic guitar and pinpricks of tone that start off the latest album by former Swans mastermind M. Gira’s latest Angels of Light album might lead some into thinking he’s left the overpowering industrial grind of his notorious former outfit behind — and in one sense he has; the music that lurks underneath the oblique poetry of his lyrics is far more organic. When 'Palisades' blossoms out into the choruses, the music may be as insistent as anything in Gira’s earlier catalogue. It sounds like the product of massed music boxes, not the inside of a car factory working to 2/4 time. By comparison, 'All Soul’s Rising' has a pummelling martial guitar riff and urgent shouts, train-whistle harmonica and a percussive driving tempo. Lyrically, there’s lost innocence, departed lovers, tyrannical patriarchs, self-devouring families, diabolical medical procedures ('All Souls’ lyrics reference the painful and dangerous pre-antibiotics cure for syphilis) ... one begins to suspect some irony in the album’s title. Michael Gira’s baritone adds its weight, turning the songs into graven injunctions, prophecies of doom and primal laments. Gira has maintained an extremely high quality level throughout his recording career — '“Everything Is Good' is no exception. It’s both a natural progression on his earlier work and a successful attempt at crafting a more accessible sound.
Track Listing:-
1 Palisades2 All Souls' Rising
3 Kosinski
4 Nations
5 The Family God
6 Because She Was
7 Rose Of Los Angeles
8 What You Were
9 Sunset Park
10 Wedding
11 What Will Come
Label Links:-
http://younggodrecords.com/https://www.youtube.com/user/YoungGodTube
interviews |
|
Interview (2007) |
|
| Ex-Swans front-man and owner of Young God records Michael Gira's latest musical project Angels of Light has just released its fifth album 'We Are Him'. Jamie Rowland chats to him about it, the potentially bleak future of Young God and his music |
live reviews |
|
Astoria 2, London, 1/11/2007 |
|
| At the Astoria 2 in London, Sarah Maybank watches experimental art trio Animal Collective play a dark relationship conflict-inducing, but hit-and-miss set |
reviews |
|
We are Him (2007) |
|
| Latest album from Michael Gira's Angels of Light which despite replacing the industrialism of his first, most famous band the Swans with a combination of folk, country and hillbilly music remains doom-laden and disturbing |
| Angels Of Light Sing Other People (2005) |
most viewed articles
current edition
Pennyblackmusic - Writers and Photographers' Albums of the Year 2024Peter Perrett - In Dreams Begin Responsibilities Interview Part One
Man From Delmonte - Interview
Clive Langer - Interview
Pennyblackmusic - Book of the Year Award 2024
Johnnie Johnstone - Interview
Marianne Faithfull - Reflections
Laura Nyro - Profile
Johny Brown - Corpse Flower
Vinyl Stories - Vinyl 2024
most viewed reviews
current edition
Dorie Jackson - Stupid Says RunRingo Starr - Look Up
Beabadoobee - This is How The World Moves
Pixie Lott - Encino
Dusty Springfield - The BBC Sessions
Unthanks - In Winter
Joan Armatrading - How Did This Happen and What Does It Mean?
Oïmiakon - Comptoir Des Vanites
Rosie Lowe - Lover, Other
Emily Burns - Die Happy
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart