There are voices that impress with range or power. There are voices that captivate with uniqueness or texture. And then there are voices that nearly hypnotize with emotion.<\/p>\n
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The Blue Nile\u2014those rather mysterious British cult favorites who issued just four albums across a 20-year career\u2014had a lot more going for them than just singer\/songwriter\/guitarist Paul Buchanan\u2019s voice; the group relied substantially on the performances and arranging and programming skills of bassist Robert Bell and keyboardist Paul Joseph Moore, supported by drummer Nigel Thomas and engineer Calum Malcolm.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Still, there\u2019s no point in denying it; when you listen to a Blue Nile album, one element consistently jumps out at you: THAT VOICE. That keening, supple, earnest, silvery, magnetic voice singing songs rich with longing and melancholy, a rainbow of organic emotional color against a backdrop of dark, brooding \u201980s synthesizers. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The other characteristic The Blue Nile consistently manifests is patience. They never rush, and songs rarely come in under 4:30, more typically extending toward or past six minutes. Certainly opener \u201cOver The Hillside\u201d is in no hurry, a gentle, subdued and honestly rather nondescript number other than, yes, those vocals. Buchanan\u2019s voice\u2014unprocessed, unfiltered, un-auto-tuned\u2014provides all of the warmth needed to make the track engaging, a moment that you just fall into. It\u2019s a voice that makes you want to know more.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As \u201cHillside\u201d winds up, mechanical percussion sounds offer sharp contrast to the warmth of his voice, encapsulating the yin and the yang of The Blue Nile right there. And then we\u2019re into \u201cThe Downtown Lights,\u201d a sharp-eyed examination of the introvert\u2019s dilemma: \u201cSometimes I walk away \/ When all I really wanna do \/ Is love and hold you right.\u201d The gently pumping bass and shimmery synths lead into this self-soothing chorus: \u201cIt will be alright \/ The downtown lights.\u201d <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As the languorous \u201cLet\u2019s Go Out Tonight\u201d enters, Buchanan sings \u201cBaby, let\u2019s go out tonight\u201d with unconvincing enthusiasm; it sounds less like a light-hearted invitation than a desperate plea, as in, \u201cIf you say no, I might have a complete breakdown.\u201d The pleasantly pulsing \u201cHeadlights On The Parade\u201d accentuates the band\u2019s flair for the cinematic; it\u2019s the song you would use in your film underneath the part of the road trip your main character takes where they made an important discovery about themselves. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The particularly spare \u201cFrom A Late Night Train\u201d is so quiet and somber, it\u2019s almost funereal, just voice and electric piano with a hint of muted trumpet deep in the mix. Next up, \u201c7 A.M.\u201d adds dimension with a rather complicated, almost proggy backing track, with guitar, synth, bass, drums and percussion weaving a spell as Buchanan pleads \u201cWhere is the love?\u201d <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s \u201cSaturday Night.\u201d <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The album culminates with what\u2019s generally regarded as The Blue Nile\u2019s signature song, and why wouldn\u2019t it be? It\u2019s somehow both bright and melancholy, overflowing with a distinct, swoony charm. Here the normally rather downcast Buchanan is at his most effusive\u2014it\u2019s Saturday night, he\u2019s in love, and life is good. There\u2019s still sadness lurking in the shadows, of course, but inside this particular moment, he\u2019s celebrating. The guitar chords are bright against a steady, pulsing, open arrangement as he sings that \u201cAn ordinary girl can make the world alright.\u201d His vocals are passionate and optimistic, working to convince both her and us that it\u2019s all going to work out after all. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Each element within the arrangement increases ever so gradually in intensity as the song progresses and evolves over the course of six and a half minutes, until Buchanan finally gets the payoff he\u2019s been longing for the whole time: \u201cShe\u2019ll love me,\u201d he sings over the close. It\u2019s clear why \u201cSaturday Night\u201d was a hit and got a lot of people excited about The Blue Nile; it\u2019s distinct and unique and powerful and memorable, and my favorite of theirs by a substantial margin. It also feels like a wise choice to end the album right there, because where is there left to go?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The truth is, I shouldn\u2019t even like The Blue Nile; they\u2019re one of the few rock bands that I\u2019ve ever enjoyed that don\u2019t feature guitar as a cornerstone of their sound. But there\u2019s something about the contrast of Buchanan\u2019s emotive, colorful voice against the cool, muted background of synthesizers that just works. It\u2019s a magic trick I can\u2019t quite figure out, and to some extent don\u2019t want to\u2014I\u2019d rather just let it keep delighting me again and again.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hats<\/i> was the consensus pinnacle of The Blue Nile\u2019s catalogue, and it\u2019s easy to appreciate why. It\u2019s a masterful work of high-contrast art whose gentle grooves and atmospheric arrangements form the perfect backdrop for Paul Buchanan\u2019s beguiling vocals. I didn\u2019t know I needed this album, until I did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":35124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[10966],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-47002","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-blue-nile","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47002","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=47002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47002"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=47002"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=47002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}