Gloomy Stuff

Ceremony: Disappear
(Safranin Sound 2007)

Consisting of ex-Skywave members Paul Baker and John Fedowitz, Ceremony is one of the two bands (the other being A Place To Bury Strangers) to grow out of Skywave's ashes. Their debt to bands that turned up both synths and guitars while letting the drum machine tick away, and The Jesus And Mary Chain in particular, is so obvious that one wonders how many copies of Psychocandy these guys have worn through in their lives. Still, Ceremony offer more than a mere nostalgia trip by venturing further than anyone else I know into that nook of noisy pop where murky electro, chilly and heartbroken vocals, and desolate lyrics reign as much as guitar feedback. Disappear is a very fine hybrid of dark noise-pop, shoegaze fuzz, and electro, and I can't seem to get enough of it. COID: "Never Love Again"

My Midnight Creeps: Histamin
(MMC Records/EMI 2007)

Histamin is the sophomore album by this Norwegian band fronted by Robert Burås as a side project from his main gig in the urban noir rock band Madrugada. It'll also be the last: Burås died in July 2007. Influenced by the psychedelic and bluesy sides of bands like The Stooges and The Animals and filled out with organs and saxophone, their swampy and dark garage rock cascade is not unlike that of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. The big, bombastic songs are about women, having the blues, and being wronged. They're meant to be played loud. They cover no new territory. But this is all done so very well, and with such evident passion and swagger, that I'm stopped in my tracks, reveling in it. COID: "Violet"

PJ Harvey: White Chalk
(Island 2007)

Another cycle of musical self-reinvention lands PJ outside many musical comfort zones. White Chalk is rarely inhabited by more than piano, faint percussion, and airy, imperiled vocals. The nearly claustrophobic intimacy, and spare, lonely, chilling beauty of the music match the piercing sorrows pervading the lyrics: an absent, betraying lover, unborn child, battered wife, dead grandmother. Harvey's previous music is powerful because muscular; White Chalk acquires its power from its intense frailty and understated elegance that often breaks with conventional pop song structure. Call it chamber noir. COID: "Silence"

Richard Hawley: Lady's Bridge
(Mute 2007)

Staying a bit too safely on the tried and true path of über-romantic croon-a-billy, Lady's Bridge doesn't quite live up to its predecessor Coles Corner. But that was a truly gorgeous record, and this successor slab of nostalgic late-night reflections (largely concerning Sheffield) soaked in twangy guitars and shimmering, satin-smooth orchestral arrangements is no disappointment. While maintaining the appealing retro sheen and Orbison-Pitney-Sinatra vibe, Lady's Bridge offers welcome variations in tempo, and the faster numbers are by and large quite successful. It's a satisfying and strong record that does extremely well what it sets out to do, even if at times one wishes that it had set out to do something slightly more path-breaking. COID: "The Streets Are Ours"

Editors: An End Has A Start
(Kitchenware 2007)

End should lay to rest the lazy claim that Editors sound like Interpol. Neither are genuinely terrifying like Joy Division and both carry Echo & The Bunnymen in their sleeves, but there the similarities pretty much end. This album is big. It has its missteps: the Coldplay-ish moments on "Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors", a few unnecessary synth swaths, occasional uptight, or excessively bombastic, or affected-gloom moment. That aside, End excels in monolithically gray and elegantly miserable music. Simple piano chords accentuate the pounding pace, the drums pummel quite a bit, and the wiry high-note guitars will rub your heart raw in a good way. The slower songs are quite breath-taking. On "Bones" Tom Smith offers some uncharacteristically forward and staccato-like vocal phrasings, on "Racing Rats" and the title track's tongue-tying line "When you caught my eye, I saw everywhere I've been and wanna go", his deep baritone gives me something not a lot of music does: shivers. COID: "An End Has A Start"

The National: Boxer
(Beggars Banquet 2007)

Last year's Alligator was one hell of an album. Boxer is better: a focused and alluring masterpiece. Matt Berninger's chocolate baritone and Bryan Devendorf's brilliant drumming carry brooding and expansive indie rock with occasional joyous brass and peppy guitars. The music matches the lyrics one to one: overall feel is that of despairing love roaming rainy streets, telling tales of witty affection, lonesome warmth, and only occasional glimmers of hope (e.g. "You know I've dreamed about you for 29 years/before I saw you" on "Slow Show"). Ditch Neon Bible for Boxer. Remarkably restrained and self-assured, it's one of the strongest releases of 2007 so far. COID: "Mistaken For Strangers"

The Twilight Sad: Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
(Fat Cat 2007)

2007 is shaping up to be a strong year for gloomy music. Although it took several close listens to sink in, this Glaswegian debut falls into the top crop. Free-flowing torrents of shimmering, almost shoegazey guitars, nuanced drumming, accordions, and Scottish folk melodies stream onto a musical widescreen. Anthemic as it is, the record somehow manages to sound intimate as well. Lovely Scottish accent, too. Not 100% successful, but very promising. COID: "That Summer, at Home I Became the Invisible Boy"

Mark Pickerel And His Praying Hands: Snake In The Radio
(Bloodshot 2006)

Accomplished collection of spooky tunes from Pickerel (formerly a drummer for the Screaming Trees, Truly, Mark Lanegan, and Neko Case, and the leader of the great but now defunct The Dark Fantastic). His baritone carries gloomy love tales which unfold in the spirit of the Old Testament and get that unmistakable dusty feeling from stark rhythms (especially on "A Town Too Fast For Your Blues"), twangy guitars, and some sweet pedal steel action. Like Calexico with the sensibility of a Nick Cave, so much so that David Lynch could perfectly well set a scene in a West Texas swing dance hall to "Sin Tax Dance." COID: "Graffiti Girl"