Lyrics that strike a chord

Teenage Fanclub — Here (Merge)  

Sound of tranquility 

The Glaswegians, nicknamed as the Fannies, return with their long-awaited tenth album, Here, a collection offering welcoming familiarity while widening the creative horizon on their most evolved and arguably most somber work yet. The good news is that Here finds the band bang on form. The opener I’m In Love sets the bar high with its winning harmonies and rapid tempo, announcing ‘We will fade into history’. The album takes a pleasant direction that harks back to their heyday, giving it both a nostalgic feel with a sense of ease throughout. The band’s three songwriters, Norman Blake, Gerard Love and Raymond McGinley, each wrote four songs for Here, but the album still has a united flow, both in the expression and music. I Have Nothing More To Say adds subtle psychedelic effects that nestle into the warm acoustic strumming. The opening line of Steady State, ‘wake my love, we’ve dreamt enough’ draws our attention to the imaginary things that divide us. Meanwhile, Blake’s folkier The Darkest Part Of The Night is string-soaked pop of the top order, that brings to mind The New Mendicants’ cover of Sandy Denny’s By The Time It Gets Dark. One of the best tracks arrives near the end. It’s a Sign sees Love’s vocal at its very peak, joining his bandmates for truly luxuriant and heart-melting harmonies. Teenage Fanclub with Here continues to follow their musical journey evoking yearning, emotion and introspection.

Best track: It’s a Sign

Worst track: Live in the Moment

Rating: ****

---

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds — Skeleton Tree    (Bad Seeds Ltd.)  

Beautiful, brimming with emotions

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ 16th studio album results from the tragic death of Nick’s son, Arthur Cave, in the summer of last year. The crushing impact of this death pervade the distressing Skeleton Tree, although obliquely. First track and single Jesus Alone opens  ‘you fell from the sky and crash landed in a field near the river adur’ an absolutely heart-breaking line with which Cave announces this subject matter will not shy away from the trauma he has suffered. On Girl in Amber, Cave’s voice is tinder dry, scarcely there, as he woefully paints his images of disappearances and blankness. Each song melts seamlessly into the next, and sometimes it feels as if you’re listening to him pouring out his heart for the first time.  Anthrocene carries on to address concepts of loss  ‘All of the things we love, we love, we love, we lose’ while the song spins around him. On Rings of Saturn, he engages in poetry, while on the crushing I Need You, he pushes himself to the edge, until it sounds like he may break at any moment. Distant Sky is a beautiful duet between Cave and guest vocalist Else Torp trading reminiscent musings, while the bittersweet title track, Skeleton Tree hearkens to the piano ballads of The Good Son that contains some of the most poignant lyrics in the album. The result is beautiful, intuitive and emotionally devastating.

Best track: Distant Sky

Worst track: Magneto

Rating: ***

---

Wilco — Schmilco (Anti)    

Wilco’s most adventurous work in years 

The Chicago-based folk-rock band’s albums made a mark as audacious creative statements that pushed the boundaries of genre with their trademark sound. Produced by Tweedy and Tom Schick, Schmilco is much more personal and reflective than previous works. In place of the fuzzy guitars of Star Wars, or the electronic weirdness of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the album is largely a collection of acoustic ballads. The first track on the album, Normal American Kids, is autobiographical. Tweedy takes a look back at growing up, and contemplates normalcy: ‘I always hated those normal American kids,’ he sings. The most musically intriguing track is Common Sense, in which high-guitar riffs anchor the song’s progress. Happiness sounds like something off Beck’s Sea Change, a slow-burning acoustic ballad with minimal orchestral arrangements. Despite the easygoing tone of singer and songwriter Jeff Tweedy’s voice, the lyrics are personal and give way to cynicism and pain. He croons about how he’ll never escape his own success on Nope ‘Fame has legs, blazing chrome / Amputate but it’s never gone’ and lifting the burden of caring about things on Shrug and Destroy ‘Sometimes I wish to set free/ The things that still matter to me’. Cry All Day is perhaps the album’s best track, sounding like a reworking of their previous hit War on War. Ten albums and more than 20 years into their career, Wilco are still making great music.

Best track: Cry All Day    

Worst track: Locator

Rating: ***

---

Angel Olsen — My Woman (Jagjaguwar)  

A dramatic leap forward

Angel Olsen’s new record comes two-and-a-half years after the breakthrough of Burn Your Fire For No Witness. My Woman is another evolution, finding Olsen trying on genres and identities, testing to see which one suits her most. Introducing with Olsen’s dream-inducing Intern, the album gets the ball rolling smoothly with delicate synths setting up an infectious 1980s-esque atmosphere. At the record’s epicentre is Olsen’s astonishing vocal — misty, occasionally hurt, frequently agitated and always elating. Travelling between moments of triumph and heartbreak, she paints words that make these situations feel painfully close to the listener. Both Heart Shaped Face and Those Were the Days are incredibly relaxed, as meticulous drumming and groovy beats replicate the easygoing sounds of lounge music. Other songs such as the eccentric Give it Up are given an extra dose of energy with some loud and fuzzy guitars, but the majority of the album takes on an undeniably tender musical approach. The guitar on Never Be Mine sounds like Olsen’s playing Golden Gate Park, tenderly crooning, ‘I would watch you fold my heart away/ I would watch you look right through me/ Right through every word that I say.’ On Sister, Olsen’s voice is given more room to expand, or seemingly wander, only to reappear reformed. Woman makes a statement that Olsen belongs to herself and no one else. She confronts the listener, challenging, ‘Tell me what I wouldn’t do. Tell me that love isn’t true. I dare you to understand what makes me a woman.’ The lo-fi vocals on the closer piano ballad pops form a beautiful, somber end to an emotional whirlwind of an album.

Best track: Those Were the Days 

Worst track: Shut Up 

Rating: **

---

Top 10 Singles

1. Closer........................The Chainsmokers feat. Halsey (CU)

2. Heathens......................................Twenty One Pilots (NM)

3. Cold Water........Major Lazer feat. Justin Bieber & MO (FD)

4. Cheap Thrills...............................Sia feat. Sean Paul(NM)

5. This is What You Came For......Calvin Harris feat, Rihanna (FD)

6. Send My Love To Your New Lover.......................Adele (CU)

7. Needed Me...................................................Rihanna (CU)  

8 . We Don’t Talk Anymore..Charlie Puth feat. Selena Gomez (NE)

9. Let Me Love You..............DJ Snake feat. Justin Bieber (CU)

10. Broccoli ...............................D.R.A.M feat. Lil Yatchy (CU)

Legend:

(CU): Climbing Up    (FD): Falling own    (NM): Non-mover    (NE): New Entry