Monday, January 14, 2013

Album Review: Small Town Boredom - Notes From The Infirmary

Where Small Town Boredom's debut album featured 14 songs, their 2010 follow up is far more focused at six songs. Fraser McGowan's whispered lyrics on the slow-burning Song for Matthew Leonard leave little to the imagination ("they gave me Librium to mend my broken heart"), unfurling slowly and carefully. After the lush instrumental White Cart Water, they return to sparse, hushed folk with Black Cart Ways and the haunting Void Lighting. 
 
The bleak World's Most Unwanted explodes with despair mid song, almost like a release of tension, with wordless cries and guitar distortion. But this is a rare moment of disquiet. Final track Moments for Denial has a beautifully picked acoustic guitar over a simple, electronic beat with minimalist vocals from McGowan, which works as well as anything else here.  It's available from http://tromerecords.bandcamp.com/album/notes-from-the-infirmary

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