For this is essentially a come-down album, the second from the Brighton-based outfit that has Simon Little and Tom Bidwell as founder members, and it seems to be able to expand according to musical demand. They alternate between vocal and instrumental textures, and the record takes a thought provoking stance that gets under the skin in an extremely subtle way - and stays there.

This is mostly down to the lyrics. Advice, for example, goes for the soul searching with the line; "What advice shall I give, I can't tell you how to live," while the semi-spiritual Hold On exhorts us to do exactly that. Most striking of all the vocal tracks is the funky State Of You, not exactly sympathetic in its declamations, saying: "Look at you and the state you're in," before concluding; "You had it, and you fucking lost it," a real eye-opener when spoken unaccompanied at the end.

Hardkandy's sensibilities of orchestration set them a notch above the average down tempo album. Triage begins with a wonderfully full yet distant brass chord, opening up into a widescreen number whose lumbering bass hints at Massive Attack before a Coltrane-style sax comes in to steal the thunder.

Brown Eyed Girl - no relation to the Van Morrison number - takes a harmonica to funk things up with surprising grace. The vocals, too, benefit from the production work and having some contrast among the singers helps too - Sean Clarke's honeyed tones on the opener, Russ Porter's laddish yet soft-toned voice on State Of You, and a guest slot for Terry Callier, which helps explain the probing vocals of Advice.

The handsome artwork features a slot with all the lyrics arranged in one paragraph, indicating a concept to the album. "Jack was always the last to leave," then; "one too many times Jack had consumed his advice", and then, curiously in a closing song written six years ago; "happy beginnings and second chances". It's the album in a nutshell, not always happy or blissful by any means. Indeed, weary and deadbeat would sum up the opening few tracks, but there is a distinctly optimistic edge that successfully exerts itself by the end.

An assured piece of work then, of great interest to the Royksopp and Zero 7 followers amongst you - and this can be filed slightly left of them in your CD collection.

share:  Facebook | Digg | del.icio.us | more

Mercury Prize 2009 nominees