Milton Star - Things Fall Apart
by John Clarkson
published: 19 / 6 / 2015
Label:
Stereogram Recordings
Format: Download
intro
Extraordinary download only second single from dark Fife-based duo, Milton Star
Milton Star capture that moment with their beautiful but bleak second single 'Things Fall Apart' when the world comes crashing in, when something so devastating happens that one feels that one is going to be permanently crushed by it. The group, a duo consisting of Alan Wylie and Graeme Currie, who were both in 1970's post punk band Thursdays, first formed in 2010, and have spent the last five years preparing and recording material in Wylie's home studio in a converted church in rural Fife. Their debut album will come out on the excellent Edinburgh-based label Stereogram Recordings in October. 'Things Fall Apart' on the surface has an epic, widescreen sound. Slow-paced and sultry, it in fact makes a lot out of a little, each note from its small collection of instruments - a shimmering steel guitar, a swirling keyboard, the occasional crash of drums and in its final moments a beeezy harmonica - counting for a great deal. Wylie's lyrics, a mere eight lines in length, are also kept deliberately sparse and obtuse. One is never sure exactly what he is singing about, whether it is a death, the end of a love affair or something else entirely. When he sings, however, with his rich, baritone vocals the opening lines of "When my melancholy mind lies broken/When everything turns dark/When loneliness is my compadre/And when there is nowhere left to hide," he speaks for most of us at some point in our lives. 'Things Fall Apart' is extraordinarily powerful. Melancholic and despairing at one level, it also proves at another redemptive. For this reviewer, there is unlikely to be a better single this year.
Track Listing:-
1 Things Fall ApartBand Links:-
https://www.facebook.com/miltonstarhttps://twitter.com/miltonstarmusic
https://soundcloud.com/miltonstar
http://www.miltonstarmusic.net/
Label Links:-
https://www.facebook.com/Stereogramrecordingshttp://www.stereogramrecordings.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/jcwthoms
https://www.youtube.com/user/stereogramrecordings
soundcloud
most viewed articles
current edition
The Church - Interview with Steve KilbeySimon Heavisides - Destiny Stopped Screaming: The Life and Times of Adrian Borland
In Dreams Begin Responsibilities - #15- On Being Dignified and Old aka Ten Tips From Jah Wobble On How To Be Happy.
Vetchinsky Settings - Interview
Jack Roscoe - Interview
Near Jazz Experience - Interview
Repomen - Ten Songs That Made Me Love...
Liam Gallagher and John Squire - Olympia Theatre, Dublin, 16/3/2024
Nico - Profile
Sami Sumner - Interview
most viewed reviews
current edition
Lewis 'Burner' Pugh - Bullets for BreadKula Shaker - Natural Magick
Ian Hunter - Defiance Part 2: Fiction
David Cross Band - Ice Blue Silver Sky
Smalltown Tigers - Crush On You
Hillbilly Moon Explosion - Back in Time
Ty Segall - Three Bells
Beyonce - Cowboy Carter
My Life Story - Loving You is Killing Me
Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes - Dark Rainbow
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