Guillemots - Walk the River

Perpetually on the brim of mainstream attention, Guillemots frontman last year found himself with a great deal attention courtesy of a Billy Joel cover and John Lewis advert. It therefore seems a shame that many will pin the band down as a nice folk band - because there's always been much more than that. With the third album comes a sense that they're almost parodying themselves. On a stylistic level the band have always been a kind of vague attempt at the avant-garde, which doesn't bode well with their scruffy, homegrown and raw image - but they had the music to pull it off.

And the eponymous opener to Walk the River is certainly an example of that: crooning, howling vocals ebb beautifully over a dark, bleak instrumentation and lyrics of "hunted animals" add to a primal, mysterious atmosphere. But the je-ne-sais-quoi disappears in 'Vermillion', a pretty standard Doves-like track with unthreatening strums and foreground noises that do little more than distract. It's nonetheless infectious, prone to prompt foot-tapping I'm sure, but there's also a slightly uncomfortable quality in the vocals for me (not the voice itself, but it sounds distorted). Dangerfield evokes Brandon Flowers in 'I Don't Feel Amazing Now', both in vocal similarity and pleasant unimaginative directions.


It is with relief that 'Ice Room' comes along, with contrasting guitars and a more confident, strong songwriting approach - the QOTSA-esque riff a surprise addition since it's kind of at odds with the rest of the track but injects a sense of urgency into the music. This then shifts nicely into the dream-sequential 'Tigers', announcing "I'm so close to giving up" before caving in on itself with rapturous effect. Heavy drums and disorienting beeps wash away all previous thoughts of their piecemeal approach, and there's suddenly life in the band again.

But then 'Inside' comes along and washes it all away. Sounding like something off of U2's No Line on the Horizon (by no means a bad thing, but somewhat at odds with the rest of this record) it lingers just a tad too much, feeling bloated. 'I Must Be A Lover' is loud and clattering ray of sunshine that pushes to the side all of the moping depression to great effect; sure to find its way onto someone's playlist with the final uttered "the storm is over". 'Slow Train' sounds again U2, carrying along the defiant, uplifting lyrics ("don't slow me down, it's just another day") over synths and cries in a slightly clumsy attempt at euphoria.

The long 'Sometimes I Remember Wrong' then pisses on the radiant bonfire with a cataclysmic sigh (verbal highlights include "maybe I'll try to forget you") and were it shorter, it'd work. But by the end of 9 minutes you're a little bit bored and if this was an attempt at repetition for emphasis it's lost on me. Single 'The Basket' is falled upon to revive interest and does so amiably, with loud electronics and "whoa!"s that are really portraying me as someone only fond of bombastic music, when I'm really not. There's just a vitesse about such tracks and a clumsy choice of tracklist ordering that puts together a stop-start feel to the album.



'Dancing in the Devil Shoes' sounds like Brandon Flowers trying to cover something by Florence + the Machine: something which on paper just doesn't seem right but somehow works. Dangerfield coos and wails, whilst ominous drumbeats persist into a harrowing chorus. 'Yesterday is Dead' is a pretty interesting choice to end on, suggesting opportunities for a brighter future. After this, let's hope so.

I don't want to rank the album lowly on account of its weaknesses because there are some true moments of brilliance here - but I can't ignore how lost and unfocussed certain tracks sound. At times it feels like the Guillemots are handing you a colouring book and asking you to fill in their emotions for themselves, and unless you're easily distracted by crayons (I think everyone can be under some duress) it's not going to go down as something monumentally inspirational.

Rating: 6/10
Highlights: Tigers, Ice Room, I Must Be a Lover, The Basket, Walk the River
Avoid: Inside, Sometimes I Remember Wrong, Slow Train