our recent interview with Gregory Spawton<\/a><\/u>.)<\/p>\nFrom the opening notes of the album it\u2019s apparent that Big Big Train has embraced the challenge before it\u2014to reintroduce the band to its audience with new music that represents both continuity and a natural evolution. Opener \u201cLight Left In The Day\u201d serves beautifully as both an overture\u2014foreshadowing various musical and lyrical elements of the album to come\u2014and as a proof of concept for the new lineup. Bravin enters first, establishing his role as the new lead voice, before the ensemble moves into a lively instrumental segment that eventually deploys its full arsenal, from tricky time signatures and soaring brass to powerhouse drumming, bass pedals, keening violin, and smoking synth and guitar solos. Holldorff and Spawton in particular shine here, even as the song\u2019s topic sentence\u2014\u201cMake the most of the light left in the day\u201d\u2014introduces a theme that suggests the lasting impact of Longdon\u2019s passing.<\/p>\n
The second track and first single released from the album, the thundering \u201cOblivion\u201d is as heavy a song as the band has ever recorded, its riffy core bolstered by complex, shifting time signatures and Lindley\u2019s soaring, slicing violin, offset with a dreamy, airy bridge. It\u2019s also the only track here that neither Spawton nor Bravin was involved in writing, a collaboration between D\u2019Virgilio and Foster. A departure in some respects, this dynamic number nevertheless ends up feeling like a complementary track that\u2019s entirely in keeping with the character and strengths of this new-era lineup.<\/p>\n
The new BBT\u2019s inaugural epic \u201cBeneath The Masts\u201d earns that label and more. Its 17-minute span opens with pretty acoustic guitar and piano introducing a tale of loss that\u2019s both specific in its physical details\u2014the hill it describes sits behind the house where Spawton grew up\u2014and sufficiently open-ended to invite the listener to weave its message into their own experiences. In interviews Spawton has revealed that it\u2019s about the passing of his beloved stepfather and his sense of dislocation from his roots in the English Midlands. Sonically, it\u2019s both evocative and adventurous. As D\u2019Virgilio and Sj\u00f6blom\u2019s voices rise in chorus with Bravin\u2019s you feel a continuity of sound and purpose; then as the song develops Holldorff takes a moment at center stage with his fluid, energetic keyboard work, leading to a stinging guitar solo. At the song\u2019s crescendo, guitars and violin and piano double and triple one another with stuttering, stabbing notes before returning to a plaintive synth melody. With energy and drive aplenty, \u201cMast\u201d carries listeners through an emotional trajectory of loss and rebirth, even as it conveys a message of deceptive urgency: \u201cTime waits in the wings.\u201d This is what sets Big Big Train apart from its prog peers\u2014the sharp insights and rich veins of emotion at the core of even their most grandly-scaled epics. <\/p>\n
Next up, \u201cSkates On\u201d takes a more direct approach to a similar theme, a resonant Spawton reverie. \u201cIt\u2019s time to get your skates on \/ We\u2019re only here for so long \/ Time to get your skates on \/ We\u2019re here and then gone,\u201d sings Bravin. \u201cDon\u2019t take a rain check \/ Do it now \/ Make those memories \/ Live your dreams.\u201d The entire track feels like a reflection of recent events\u2014mortality, the seeming capriciousness of fate, and the importance of seizing the moment.<\/p>\n
The album\u2019s second extended piece, the 10-minute \u201cMiramare,\u201d is the one track here that\u2019s steeped in the sort of historical focus that\u2019s been common on past BBT albums. With the instrumentalists on fire and surrounded by a chorus of harmony vocalists, Bravin essays the story of a doomed romance (\u201cHope can be a great deceiver\u201d) that is part of the legend of his hometown of Trieste. The one who really shines here, though, is Spawton, who since switching from guitar in 2009 has steadily grown into a top-flight bass player; he\u2019s now regularly venturing outside the pocket to attack punchy riffs of his own. <\/p>\n
After that the album settles into a thoughtful groove for its final quarter. \u201cLove Is The Light\u201d is a gorgeous and very personal Bravin ballad lit up by tag-team violin and guitar solos. Spawton\u2019s rather pastoral \u201cBookmarks\u201d celebrates connection and the restorative powers of friendship. The tempo picks up again with rangy, anthemic closer \u201cLast Eleven,\u201d another Spawton number celebrating friendship\u2014\u201cTogether we are stronger\u201d\u2014that also demonstrates\u2019 Bravin\u2019s ability to hit those big notes. <\/p>\n
Presented with the biggest challenge here, Alberto Bravin climbs the hill before him with a winning combination of enthusiasm, skill, and grace. He is a different singer than David Longdon, employing a voice with different qualities, while sharing some important ones: passion, personality, and a keen instinct for accentuating the inherent drama of Big Big Train’s music. Oskar Holldorff, the newest and youngest member of the band, similarly steps into his new role with aplomb, fueling the band\u2019s momentum with his fiery playing and strong harmony vocals. <\/p>\n
The rest of the lineup remains at the top of their game, with longtime members D\u2019Virgilio and Sj\u00f6blom continuing to anchor the group\u2019s sound with their superb musicianship and harmony vocals, Foster bringing both power and a nimble touch on guitar, and Lindley delivering an evocative counterpoint with her violin on track after track. <\/p>\n
This moment inescapably marks the beginning of a new era for Big Big Train. And while the new era will inevitably be different from what preceded it, it\u2019s safe to say after digesting this album that, under the most difficult of circumstances, the band has made a series of very good decisions. The Likes Of Us<\/i> delivers an engaging, charismatic combination of muscle and heart, a testament to perseverance and the power of friendship\u2014and music\u2014to heal. They have indeed seized the moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":34962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8052],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-46834","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-big-big-train","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46834","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46834"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}