You’ll have to apologise me if this reads a little strangely, I haven’t had the time to actually get a full album review written in quite some time – it’s all about the single in the age of the shortening attention span. That being said, when an album fits as wonderfully well together as these nine tracks from Cove Hithe do, splitting them up feels just as cruel as herding baby ducklings away from their mother. What kind of monster would do that?
As we open our ears to the serene delights of ‘Slow Life‘, everything feels like it is set for an epic film score to come to life as this overture draws you in with an unparalleled atmosphere that will make you wish as though you were settling in for hours upon end of exquisite soundscapes. However, as the album progresses vocals are added and, with their Fleet Foxes-esque harmonies in tow, there’s an awful lot more life in this LP than you’d expect to find in your standard score. The flexibility the band show throughout the album is incredible, while there’s always a sombre feel (handclaps aside, you can be sad when there are handclaps?!?!?) you don’t find yourself spiralling into a world of darkness. Rather, there’s about as much character in this as the entire cast of Game of Thrones. I appreciate the latter half of that metaphor should be ‘characters’ but frankly I was far too pleased with the dreadful wordplay to care.
One of my favourite aspects of the album is that they’re confident enough to feature a couple of tracks that don’t even make it to the two minute mark, rather than feeling the need to try and stretch out what they already have for the sake of something that fits a more conventional template. There’s not much sticking to ‘the norm’ at all in this album and the freedom that this seems to allow the band means that they’re able to create a selection of effortlessly charmless sounds that are easier on the ear than a striking Irish accent.
The fact that they’re able to get away with something so starkly stunning as ‘How Wild The Wind Blows‘ without being multi-millionaires already is simply beyond me. I cannot urge you enough to buy this album, play the whole thing in full and feel the endless emotions that come with it. It’s such an eye-opening experience that you’ll never forget.
We Close Tonight 