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Somewhere, spinning away in an alternate universe, Jonquil play the soundtrack to every movie ever made. ‘Lions’, the Oxford band’s second long-player, isn’t on a grand scale or particularly cinematic in scope but piles on emotion, inspiration and invention for every second that it plays. ‘Lily’ is the perfect introduction, starting as a gently sighing background, perhaps for images of some beautiful foreign landscape, before flourishing into a wonderful burst of noise, ‘Babe…’ comes with all the noise and climax of the next Hollywood blockbuster, the ghostly whisper of ‘I Don't Need Advice’ makes for an acutely affecting twist ending and the title track is a poetic group chorus that’s so good you want it to go on and on, roaring into the end credits forever. There are plenty of other wonderful snippets worth catching. The twinkling beauty of ‘-’, the way ‘Sudden Sun’ turns from misty darkness to blue-sky harmonies and the folksy wonder of ‘Keep It In Keeping’. And, while many of them may not go on to form full songs, there are ideas constantly escaping into the air here. It all adds up to a wonderful record, a full-involving experience
and the sort of bedroom recording that some dismiss as a quaint,
lo-fi endeavour while others wholeheartedly embrace. No prizes
for guessing which camp New-Noise are pitching up in. - Simon T Diplock |
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WORK007 1. Lily CD album |
| Out October 8th |