Word: albums
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...that of Horace Andy, a reggae musician and an oft-collaborator of Massive Attack. Andy appears on two tracks to a disconcerting effect, as his voice feels grossly misplaced in the middle of these songs. For instance, he lends his deep, raspy bass to the first single off the album, “Splitting the Atom,” and his vocals sound too breathy for the song’s sleek backdrop, distracting from one of the best musical compositions on the album...
...spite of such minor flaws, however, “Heligoland” is a resounding success. While the past seven years may have seemed like a great hiatus in music-making, the efforts that went into this album were clearly time-intensive, and they were not wasted. With a host of tracks that are at once arresting, menacing, and beautiful, “Heligoland” reestablishes Massive Attack’s captivating musical aesthetic and proves to be a bold reminder that Del Naja and Marshall are still going as strong as ever...
...their newest album, “The Courage of Others,” Texas band Midlake strays from the energetic alternative rock of previous releases towards a folk-inspired, pastoral sound. Lead vocalist and songwriter Tim Smith attempts to conjure a wintry atmosphere with delicate acoustic guitar and lyrics about cycles of death and rebirth. Unfortunately, while he does manage to capture a sense of stillness and bleakness, there is no suggestion of spring to come, and the gloomy minor key sustained throughout leaves the listener wanting to hibernate rather than go for a romp in the snow...
Opening track “Acts of Man,” sets the tone lyrically and harmonically for the rest of the album. The song is rather static: Smith sings within a restricted vocal range, and the lyrics consist of a repeated chant: “If all that grows starts to fade, starts to falter / Oh, let me inside, let me inside, not to wait / Great are the sounds of all that live / And all that man can hold.” While the lyrics refer to both the barrenness of winter and earth’s hidden bounty...
However, the magic is lost in the next track, “Rulers, Ruling All Things,” on which Smith and the band forget what made “Fortune” successful, reverting to the droning sound and seemingly insincere angst of the earlier tracks. The album reaches a low point on the aptlytitled “Bring Down,” with its melodramatic lyrics: “Pray for all to end / And silence be all / Now the joy has burned out and it’s gone / But I don’t know...