There’s an inevitable comparison to the Verve’s
\nBittersweet Symphony<\/i> on “She Kills For Kicks,” but I’m sure
\nthis isn’t the first time they’ve heard that. Some have referred to
\nAC Acoustics’ last full-length release as “the most accomplished
\nBritish rock record of the year,” so they already had quite a bit
\nto live up to on their sophomore release. With a dreamy, usually
\nslanted sound that always seems like a soft-focus shot of something
\nyou’re positive is beautiful; if only you could really see it. AC
\nAcoustics are many, many things: among them, a more dependable
\nTeenage Fanclub, Smashing Pumpkins without the whiny vocals,
\nRichard Ashcroft’s old band minus the pretentiousness (they were
\nthe new U2 for a second, right?), and a Spacemen 3 with better
\nsongs.<\/p>\n
AC Acoustics proves ready to go even further inside themselves
\nfor
\nUnderstanding Music<\/i>. Insular music that shouldn’t really be
\nplayed at football match after-parties. Great production, and
\nyou’ll swear the mics were under water for some of this. These
\nScots bring out what people only wish My Bloody Valentine still
\ndid. Dark, atmospheric, guitarock with a hint, maybe, of The Eels
\nin the vocal department. Sometimes. A somber, quiet CD that will
\ngrow on you after a little while. Wavery, clean guitars, keyboards
\nthat are used for keeping the background of each song vibrant, even
\nwhen the songs are languid, or just plain slow and moody. Not
\nunlike Pink Floyd minus the grand statements.<\/p>\n
No self-indulgence either. Their single “Crush” is what it seems
\nlike so many band wanna be doing now. Now that the immensely
\noverrated Radiohead have decided to release three CDs of themselves
\nfucking about over the course of the next year. It touches the
\nsequenced\/Garbage-y side, the indie-rawk angle, has Catherine
\nWheel-isms, Ebrace-like moments and a winsome, yet despondent
\nlyric. I love The Catherine Wheel, so that was a compliment. That
\nisn’t to pidgeonhole AC Acoustics in any way. I am saying though,
\nthat if you do enjoy those bands,
\nUnderstanding Music<\/i> is an excellent continuation on the
\nthemes that they all approach. Embrace are too busy being “epic” to
\nwrite songs like “Waiter Strains” anyway.<\/p>\n
\nUnderstanding Music<\/i> is a great title, but I didn’t really go
\nfor the artwork, which seemed kinda last minute. “I lost the
\ncover!” “Right! I’ll do ya something real quick.” Seconds later.
\n“Ummm\u2026thanks.” Otherwise, this is a sleeper hit; a sleepy
\none at that. Great for going to bed and listening to on a cold
\nnight. Narration about Oscar Wilde, and sleeping elephants on the
\nalmost instrumental “Dry Salvage (God Knows My Name).” “She Kills
\nfor Kicks” really stood out on this, their third album, and it’s
\namazing to ponder that AC Acoustics have now existed for over ten
\nyears. Now if they’d just incorporate some hot dance moves into the
\nfor-the-moment-not-quite-ready-for-hot-tub-anal-action “Knot of
\nKnots (That There is no Untying).”<\/p>\n
A 1991 split and reunion actually stripped their songs down,
\neven though there’s still quite a bit going on. They sacked a
\nviolin player, and have enough spacious sound that you won’t even
\nnotice the absence. Singer Paul Campion is haunting without seeming
\nput-on or silly. The guitars are ghostly on tracks like “B2,” and
\nringing on the rocking, anxious “Supercup.” Founded in Glasgow in
\n1990, this band have been under-appreciated for far too long. With
\na record as good as this one, you’ll wonder where former Fanclub
\n(Teenage) bass-player Gerry Love went and why? Even though he only
\ndid backing vocals on their ’93 Sweatlodge\/MV single.<\/p>\n
They recorded a mini album in ’94, the seven-song
\nAble Treasury<\/i>, and garnered more kudos. The
\nHand Passes Plent<\/i>y EP was brought out a short while later,
\nand continued their critical acclaim. Ten years since they began,
\nACA is probably more vital than they have ever been, and they’ve
\nmanaged to remain prolific when EMF begat those attractive
\nI-just-shat-my-pants-and-no-one-knows baggy-trousers, which gave
\nway to Brit-Pop, which begat\u2026 Maybe the world will be ready
\nfor them finally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":26377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6853],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-37608","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-ac-acoustics","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37608"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}