The Glasgow indie rockers fronted by vocalist James Graham and guitarist Andy MacFarlane return with a tempestuous, highly emotional and moving sixth LP, their first for seven years, with musical input from The Cure’s Robert Smith, fuelled by the illness and passing of Graham’s mother and his subsequent mental health struggles. Filled with thunderous sounds and raw declarations, it’s a powerful, heartbreaking work throughout, with sometime Arab Strap player David Jeans and Mogwai live team-member Alex Mackay playing drums and bass respectively. On opener Get Away From It All, Graham’s visceral outcries cresting the crashing waves in this storm of sound: “Why are you leaving me? You’re my ma. You’re my mother.” Designed To Lose has the hallmark thrum of The Cure (the band has supported them and had a long friendship with Smith), and the emotions rise further with repeated tortuous refrains: “No, this can't happen to you / I won't let this happen to you,” and “Are we playing dead in my head?” Attempt At A Crash Landing - Theme has further surges of extreme despair over a roar of guitars, while another standout, Waiting For The Phone Call, a restless sequence of syncopated keyboard turn into a extraordinary dynamic build of heartbreak and catharsis as the inevitable approaches: “I'm sitting in the front seat, head in my hands / Waiting for the phone call, telling me, are you gone? There's a pain in me no one can see / Gather round and come die with me … Watch me die / No one can hurt you now.” With other highlights including Chestwound To The Chest and closer TV People Still Throwing TVs At People (“It's okay you feel this way / Is it okay you feel this way? / I don't wanna feel this way”), it’s an album that will have the listener carried along in a tidal wave of tearful, torrid emotions, capturing the torture of grief as powerfully as it’s possible to imagine, and yet the music itself is an extraordinary cathartic expression of it. Staggeringly emotional, candid and visceral it’s a testament to how pain can turn into great art. Out on Rock Action Records.
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