I will confess that I am a sucker for a song that sounds like what it is – I’m not sure what the term is, but it’s a similar thing to pathetic fallacy… actually, it probably has nothing to do that. So any song that is both a story lyrically and a journey musically is probably gonna have me well pleased.
The Brute Chorus, halooing from that cultural wasteland known as Lon-Don (never heard of it), have sculpted one of those songs in the shape of ‘She Was Always Cool.’ Dave Ferret’s thumping bass and Matthew Day’s whip crack handclaps create a sullen atmosphere into which sails James Steel’s suitably sullen vocal, lovestung and singing of “wonderful weeks lost at sea”. This angry old salt grows more irksome and fractious until the chorus breaks like a ray of sunshine as he remembers the good times. Hopelessly romantic, but knowingly nonsensical too. Our dour raconteur returns and the gloom settles again. Musically a cross between Razorlight and the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, but don’t let that put you off.
‘Artemissia’ sees more percussive intro work, taking a bass drum and dusting it lightly with guitar. The pleading voice that tugs at the hold strings de la heart sounds a bit James Yorkstony – nothing wrong there – but any kind of pathos shunts slowly and amusingly into bathos as legion upon legion of instruments, including a mellotron and kazoo, add to the waltzing swell of the chorus. “That’s when I knew I would never be the same,” chips in another old salt is his lyrical vessel is swamped by the simple and rich melody. Simple, but not bland. A nifty nautical pairing with a few titters to lighten the wine dark sea.
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