Glasser- Ring

From the opening tribal thrum of 'Apply' it's apparent that Ring is going to be a listening thrill and as the enchanted music unfolds into the rest of this debut from Glasser (a one-woman army of ideas Cameron Mesirow) the magic just continues to build.

There are numerous 'kook's and crazies' on the scene right now who mix the bizarre and weird with vocal and visual dexterity - see Joanna Newsom, Bat For Lashes, Fever Ray for instance - that attention is tricky to come by. But the more listens I manage, particularly to standout tracks such as 'Apply', 'Mirrorage' or 'Home', the more the albums distinct qualities come to the fore.

The care and class and attention taken to craft its songs, to create an ethereal world, inviting you in for an adventure is immediately evident. It's a deliberate all-encompassing experience.

The fact that Fever Ray producer Van Rivers brushes his influence here and there is a double-edged sword as the album feels spectacular as a result but draws obvious comparisons by default. Still it's not like this overshadows Mesirow's ambition and uniqueness it just means she's right in the mix and shooting for much bigger things.

www.myspace.com/glasssser
www.mekongdelta.co.uk

The Vatican Cellars - The Same Crooked Worm

Sometimes you take a bit of a punt and prepare yourself to be surprised by a band or an album you're unfamiliar with, hoping against hope that you could add to your library of tunes and 'discover' something fresh, this was supposed to be one of those occasions but it's not actually turned out that way. Why not?

The Vatican Cellars hope to evoke the 'quintessentially English, folk-noir' sounds of Nick Drake, The Lilac Time or Tindersticks, which is odd as these three performers/bands sound nothing like each other and evoke little 'folk-noir' between them. Okay Tindersticks are gloom-mongers of epic proportions but here UK singer-songwriter Simon Hughes and California born and ridiculously named The Birthday Girl, augmented by a dull as dishwater rhythm section, don't even come close to sounding as despairing, as lost or as intense.

Singing about loss and death whilst strumming minor chords on your acoustic guitar with sweeps of cello or harmonium and melodica swirling around does not a heartfelt sound make, well not in this instance. Isolating individual tracks is pointless as they're all so similar. Whatever it is the band think they’re shooting for they're a long way off the mark.


www.myspace.com/thevaticancellars
www.mekongdelta.co.uk