A few thoughts on Tindersticks' latest album:
1. Tindersticks have always been good at making albums that are good
for seduction and for the act to (hopefully) follow. Like many bands, its early work is superior to its later, but the newest
album, Falling Down a Mountain, is the best album I've heard Tindersticks put out in the last ten years.
2. What's most striking about Falling…
is the groups' lack of fear within the confines of a studio. It's
noticeable right from the beginning of the album, and is followed
through in each of the songs; the meeting of lush and spare is on
display here.
3. Any band that opens up a record with a
six-and-a-half-minute song, usually winds up finding themselves in my
good graces. Tindersticks do exactly that, and they go from the
opening title track, into the bands own haunting take on 70's AM pop,
“Keep You Beautiful”.
4. While listening to this with me, my
girlfriend said the fifth track, “She Rode Me Down” is “silly.” I
disagree. I think it sounds like the more recent stuff The Bad Seeds
have been doing, combined with a big helping of Morricone.
5. There is something incredibly irritating about the song “Peanuts.”
It's so turned down, that it's like listening to two NPR hosts duet
with each other.
6. The song “Factory Girls” shows that their association with Constellation Records has had some influence on them.
