Thing of the Day
The blended sound of SPOKES
December 23rd 2010
ALBUM: SPOKES – Everyone I Ever Met
(Counter) - The seemingly effortless manner of their beautifully
euphoric sound is the thing that makes the new Spokes album so enjoyable. The Manchester band aren’t really doing anything
radically different, their effortless beauty washes away any cynicism
though - their delicate poise, their less-is-more gentle glowing
power.
Spokes' violin-coated sound points at Arcade Fire, their euphoria at the earlier Parades of Efterklang, their full-bodied refinement at Coldplay (that’s no bad thing is it? Come on, stop being so cynical, Coldplay are as harmless as puppies in a box). Spokes blend a very ‘now’ flow of flavours; a touch of shoegaze, some of that heartfelt acoustic thing they call nu-folk, the gentle build up of post rock, those uplifting collective choral-vocals that we hear quite a lot these days (not so many hints of the math rock that could be found on Spokes' earlier singles, now we have the whole body of work together as one thing).
There maybe nothing that new here and Everyone I Ever Met
maybe the blended sound of many (many) recent bands and sounds, but
really, in this case, none of that quite matters. If you’re willing to
let them, then Spokes will cleanse your cynical musical soul, they’ll
gently euphorically refresh you. You can call it pastoral-indie, you
can talk of post-rock, of euphoria, of gentle shoegazing, of refined
slow-core; ultimately this is just a very very enjoyable, rather
beautiful, extremely refreshing experience, a carefree walk in the
gentle sun, just a very pleasing, lovingly crafted, rather enjoyable
album - sometimes that’s more than enough.
Spokes debut album Everyone I Ever Met is out on Ninja Tune offshoot label Counter on January 17th, the single, We Can Make It Out, is out right now…
More from
www.ninjatune.net
www.myspace.com/spokessound
