I don't know anything about Deptford Goth and I'm going to keep it that way.
This was yet another find that I picked up at The Drift Record Store in Totnes, simply based on the first track.
I don't think I've been this happy with a serendipitous purchase since I accidentally found Walkmen while looking for something by Eels.
The album starts off great and each track actually seems to get better until about halfway through ("Guts No Glory" and "Objects Objects" being some of the best on the album), at which point the quality drops from excellent amazingness to slightly less excellent and amazing. The first half is just...wow. Everything you need.
Each track is swaddled in soft, warm cotton and has an intrinsic beauty to it.
The singer sounds a bit like Chris Martin, Dave Matthews and the lead singer from Primitive Radio Gods but less whiny.
While more subtle than what I'm used to, I find the simplicity allows me to listen to and focus on how well the elements work in concert.
The first track, "Life After Defo", comes in like a long, slow, calming breath. "Bronze Age" has a strange little noise in the background that makes the song feel handmade and tribal and small and ancient, right before it blossoms like some Asian flower. The harp-like synth sounds like pink pebbles being dropped into a puddle and everything has a slow, sensual feel, like making love.
Things get a bit darker with "Feel Real", which has a more distinctly 80's feel to it.
The simple guitar and bass does so much on "Guts No Glory", a tragic, tear soaked song about dealing with loss. Like a sunrise viewed through fog; fresh and clean and reborn. "Lions" is another high point, pleading with the listener to "say you remember this", sounding a bit like Thom Yorke, but, as I said, the first half of the album is really the star here.
The three words that best describe this album are hope, sadness and celebration, and sometimes they occur all at once.
This was a really stellar find.
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