No Thee No Ess – ‘Spring Dawn Glow’ (CD Review)
~A perfect work of art on every level~
A fascinating and charming new LP from Cardiff’s understated and quirky psychedelic art rockers, No Thee No Ess. It magnificently opens with the instantly likeable and bubbly Collapsing Realities in which compelling lyrics play inventively with both Andy Fung and Paul Battenbough’s contrasting vocals.
In fact, the album is filled with unusual contrasts and innovation: lo-fi swirling synth-lead tunes mingle with fuzzy guitar melodies, changing tempos and styles from both kit and machine drums cast a hypnotic and entrancing effect throughout, but above all the stand out feature is the beautiful and expressive vocal charm that adorns the great instrumentation.
Animated Glowing Souls/Ordinary Day is a driving, heartfelt philosophical declaration that ends with an unforgettable ‘outro’ bursting with endearing simplicity and certainly a match for Lou Reed’s Perfect Day in its ability to take you away to a wondrous place.
Two further tracks that demonstrate the incredibly clever songwriting of Fung and Battenbough are Cold Sunshine and Salad Days, both songs deliciously funny and imaginatively rich in their futuristic stance.
The album deserves to be listened to over and over again to discover all the hidden gems. Dear Little Raindrop yet another example of a beautiful song with dry humour (‘holding it together, despite the weather’) that becomes increasingly wonderful with every listen.
If you like The Flaming Lips, Pavement, Grandaddy, Sparklehorse, The Beach Boys, Gruff Rhys or even Stephen Merritt you will absolutely love this album!
Ostensibly, this album is brimming with musical charm and has such a wonderful example of cover art both at the front and back by Fung and Battenbough respectively- that it makes it a perfect work of art on every level.
‘Spring Dawn Glow’ out on Folkwit Records (UK) 17.06.13