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Album Review
by SashaS
7-2-2002
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| Dark side of soul |
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a.c. acoustics: 'O'
(Cooking Vinyl)
a.c. acoustics reappear with a record that is a tonal transfusion
Yesterday, while waiting to interview The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, I did some muso-spotting at the same hotel: Pop Idol’s Gareth and Charlie of The Proclaimers. The latter one, being part of a combo that made the really first true Northern-pop, made me think of – what’s with the Scots’ music making? Is it the distance from the Brit epicentre of music industry that keeps them free to make music that is different to what is going on?
a.c. acoustics are another one who are on the leftwing of alternative, making music that can be as gentle as a breeze and rock forceful as gales the country’s been experiencing of late… But, journey to this, the band’s fourth, album hasn’t been easy and involved several labels. The mark 1 came together in 1990 in Glasgow and the band’s first appearance was a support slot to Spacemen 3.
Numerous support slots were followed by extremely limited edition, exquisitely packaged bootlegs. Until the mainman Paul Campion decided to split the outfit, only to change his mind in 1992. He recalled Caz Riley (bass) and guitarist Roger Ward who’d be replaced by Mark Raine as well as recruiting Dave Garmley on drums. First single (on Elemental) appeared in December 1993, ‘Sweatlodge’, that was followed by a mini-album, ‘Able Treasury’. The second album ‘Victory Parts’ was released in 1996 but soon afterwards they were on the move, for a couple of EPs, to YOYO Records.
The band’s third album, ‘Understanding Music’, appeared in 2000 from their new home, Cooking Vinyl. The new album ‘O’ continues to be an exploration into music as an artform by hovering so above the reality’s cornflakes songs that it is really frightening. From the dreamy opening of ‘Hold’ to riff-explosion of ‘A Bell (Of Love Rings Out For You)’, it is a journey balancing between dreamy melancholia and blustering guitaring.
There are warm chords on ‘Clone Of Al Capone’, catchy choruses within several songs, lusciously orchestrated is ’16 4 2010’, pop-rockism is revealed in ‘Bright Anchor (Anchor Me)’, there is certain minimalism, complex arrangements and imagery maximalism. Imagine Leonard Cohen dropped into the Patti Smith world alternating with the Television’s realm… How can you resist a band naming a song ‘Suck On Science’?
There is such coolness here that halfway down there is an ‘Interlude’, for the album to conclude with ‘Poem’. ‘O’ is an album of music that is like the blood group – universal givers… The choons begin here, o’ future!
SashaS
7-2-2002
a.c. acoustics album ‘O’ is released 11 February 2002 on Cooking Vinyl
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