Aberfeldy - Young Forever

by Anthony Strutt

published: 28 / 8 / 2004

Label: Rough Trade
Format: CD

Diverse indiepop, recorded entirely on one microphone, by new Edinburgh-based indiepop group, Aberfeldy

Review

The cover of 'Young Forever' has a drawing on it of two lions shagging. The music on this debut album by new Edinburgh-based band Aberfeldy is, however, not as wild. It opens with 'A Friend like You', which, recorded like the rest of the album on a single microphone, sounds very amateurish in its production, but is musically quite tight, combining boy/girl vocals with lots of glockenspiel sounds. It is very twee, which I'm not a fan of. It does, however, have an infectious quality. 'Slow Me Down, is harmony based, and somewhar slower. It sounds like an early version of Tompaulin. 'Love is an Arrow' is again harmony based, and has guitars which are reminiscent of Crowded House, a beautiful fiddle break, and, mostly acoustic based , crystal clear instrumentation and vocals. 'Tie One On' is folky and fun, and its lyrics are once more very twee. 'Summer's Gone' is more experimental but again is very entertaining, and sounds a little like Trio's 'Dah, Dah, Dah', which Elastica also later covered. 'Vegetarian Restaurant ', Aberfeldy's first single which was put out on 7 " only,again sounds like Crowded House. From here on in the album sounds more and more together with every track. The guitar and vocals are very tight and become increasingly Celtic in flavour. 'What You Do' reminds me of Rachel Goswell's work and has a Mojave 3 lap steel guitar on it. The guitar intro on 'Young Together' is very country in sound and this song also has a perky vocal. 'Surly Girl' could have been recorded by Mark Eitzel and deep sad violins rain down on this track. 'Heliipolis by Night', the forthcoming second single, has strummed guitars and very upfront male vocals. These contrast well with the distorted girl vocals that back it.. This very full on song could even be danced to in a twee sort of way. While its instrumentation is bubbly, 'Something I Must Tell You' is again reminiscent of Eitzel with its vocals. It ends with 'Out of Love 'which , slowly delivered, is very downbeat in tone and features some plesant-on-the-ear shoe shuffle drums.. The whole album is lovely, and that comes from someone that doesn't like twee at all.

Track Listing:-

1 A Friend Like You
2 Slow Me Down
3 Love Is An Arrow
4 Tie One On
5 Summer's Gone
6 Vegetarian Restaurant
7 What You Do
8 Young Forever
9 Surly Girl
10 Heliopolis By Night
11 Something I Must Tell You
12 Out Of Love