Stone Ghost Collective - Unrequited Lovesongs

  by Andy Cassidy

published: 11 / 9 / 2011

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Review

“She doesn’t care if she leaves me with nothing.” The opening line of 'Unrequited Lovesongs' sets the lyrical mood for the entire album, a mood of loss, despair and heartache. That is not to say, however, that the album is not enjoyable or even uplifting –I’m sure I won’t be alone in finding a dark humour in some of the songs. Mike Sorensen Small and Brendan McAndrew have crafted melodious, inventive slices of pop, musically upbeat and quirky, and set them in the context of an album of “anti-love” songs. The harpsichord introduction of 'She Doesn’t Care' provides a suitably gloomy atmosphere, closely followed by a heavily treated vocal, reciting a list of complaints against an unspecified lover. The verse gives way to a superbly juxtaposed bridge – melancholic lyrics sung exuberantly over an MGMT-style electronic riff. Lyrically, Brendan McAndrew reminds me of Loudon Wainwright III in the way he writes about dysfunctional relationships; yes, there is sadness, but there is also a wry resignation which leads to some particularly humorous lyrics. Track two, for instance, describes the object of spurned affection thus: “The Little Cleaver of my heart/She is holding me apart.” There are touches of real style throughout the album; the doom-laden bell on 'Steppenstone', the heart-wrenching strings on 'The Saddest Truth', the vocal harmonies on 'Another Today'. Musically and thematically, the album has a great deal in common with the Magnetic Fields’ '69 Love Songs', and, in my opinion, both albums suffer from the same problem: quite simply, with so many musical styles on display, ranging from the profound to the borderline flippant, it is difficult to take the album seriously. 'Lament', for instance, talks of “youth’s intense uncertainty” and patience breaking “free from its bonds,” while the following song, 'Miles of Bedroom', begins with a chirpy vocal announcing “There’s a ghost in my loving machine.” Musically Stone Ghost Collective have been compared to the Beach Boys and I can understand why – like the Beach Boys’ immediate post-'SMiLE!' material, the SGC’s songs are superbly eccentric and unpredictable. In fact, the term Baroque Pop could have been coined for them. 'Unrequited Lovesongs' is an album of thirteen very good songs, but the inconsistency of mood somehow reinforces the conclusion that the album is less than the sum of its parts. It is, however, an album that I will go back to and enjoy again, and I will be extremely keen to hear what Stone Ghost Collective come up with next. Maybe some of that love is requited after all…

Track Listing:-

1 She Doesn't Care
2 Little Cleaver
3 Steppenstone
4 Lost Cause
5 Why
6 Perfumed Letter Bomb
7 The Saddest Truth
8 Crystal Clear
9 Romantic Love Is A Vicious Lie
10 Another Today
11 Lament
12 Miles Of Bedroom
13 Moonlight Cantata

Label Links:-

http://www.sharkbatter.com/
https://twitter.com/sharkbatter
https://www.reverbnation.com/label/sha