Formerly the musical output of Hugo Manuel, the line up in Jonquil
now numbers six, and where previously the music was sparse, now
there are loads of bloody instruments - and all the better for
it.
I saw Jonquil live on the day they signed to Try Harder Records.
Supporting Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies, they were, to my
memory, not very memorable. There seemed to be a lot of instruments
being played but with very little impression being made. All the
shuffling drums and brooding brass worked against rather than
with each other. In short it was just the wrong side of ramshackle
to be charming. On 'Lions', their second record - but first being
six members strong - however, they've got it just right.
'Lily' is as impressive an album opener as you'll hear all year.
It fills every inch of the room with huge, resonating strings,
a strident, military drumbeat restraining them from soaring away.
This track and 'Pencil, Paper' (equal in it's atmospheric and
emotional pull) put Jonquil in the Explosions In The Sky and Mono
bracket of unearthly musical wonder; only more English - like
a Home Counties Sigur Ros. After the relative gentleness of the
first few tracks, 'Babe, So Why No?' comes at just the right time
to stop the attention wandering. With a continual stomp from a
drum and the brass bustling in the background, it's like the upbeat
hymn at school you didn't actually mind singing.
Hints of Arcade Fire waft up during the brief choral blast of
the title track before we find Manuel going it alone on the achingly
lovely, 'Here's To The Little Man'. There's intimacy between the
performer and listener like never before, every deft pluck of
a guitar string is followed by the quick sharp slide along to
the next fret, that worn out windscreen wiper sound, and every
line from Manuel's choirboy voice is preceded by a lick of the
lips and a swallow. At several points you'll look around the room
just to check he's definitely not next to you - especially when
you hear the squeak of a seat as Manuel shifts his body and moves
onto the next phase of fingerpicking.
Listening to 'Lions' from the comfort of your own home, the outside
world becomes just that. Thoughts of cars and roads and buildings
fade away, the mind lost in a world of trumpets magisterially
sounding over Post Rock percussion and bell clear voices in chorus.
This is a record that reaches right out of the stereo and gives
those old heartstrings a good tug. After every track you're hoping
for a longer one next, and come the close of 'Lions' it's not
just track 1 that's made an impression, I can't imagine there'll
be many albums to better this before we wave goodbye to 2007.
- Liam McGrady
subba-cultcha.com
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