Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math

Manchester Orchestra, the reviewed incarnation of the band at least, are a polarizing force. They're either devoutly beloved or massively under appreciated by the music press, depending on who it is you read. They're also not to be confused with the real thing. The actual musicians.

The band's third installment, 'Simple Math', following two previously perfect albums, and perhaps the musical landscape is shifting because it feels like Andy Hull's maturing songwriting may finally win over the audience who've previously been dismissive.

'Simple Math' is a concept album. It really doesn't matter what the concept purports to be, the tendency to question life, love, relationships and spiritually has always been at the centre of their music.

There are some wonderfully lush arrangements, 'Mighty' and the delicate 'Leave It Alone' for example, sat either side of the four sublime songs at the albums heart. 'April Fool', 'Pale Black Eye', 'Virgin' and the eponymous 'Simple Math' are so densely packed with tension, regret and brilliance - each one is its own mini drama. The latter being as wonderfully melodic an example of expressed doubt as you're likely to hear.

Manchester Orchestra set the bar really high yet here they surpass even their own exceptional standards which is why declaring this the best album of the year by far is so gratifying.

Maybeshewill - I Was Here For A Moment, Then I Was Gone

It happens. Bands are emotional beasts. Personnel changes. Focus shifts. What was previously relevant seems to no longer reflect their identity. So they take a step back. Re-assess. Consider their next move in light of the fact that they’ve failed to light up the musical heavens as they'd hoped.

It's a well worn path but with 'I Was Here For A Moment, Then I Was Gone' Leicester instrumentalists Maybeshewill have seemingly decided that linear progression won't suffice as they've elected to approach this, their new (third) album, as if it was their debut apparently. To give them a fresh perspective and renewed impetus in their approach.

Other than the meatier, clarity of sound that recording in studios has given the songs, there are only hints to suggest a rebirth. They belt out riff heavy melodies with the same glorious power they always have. There's more 'light and shade' now and no dialogue samples. They evoke those same 'spoken' emotions through their playing, meandering piano lines and whirling strings this time out.

This is a progression then? Yes. It's definitely their most cohesive album to date, so reappraisal or not, I guess what they're doing is working.

Austra - Feel It Break

Emerging from the seedier peripheries of synth pop and resurrecting that uneasy sense of dread and sleaze favoured by the likes of Japan or Soft Cell, signer, songwriter, leader, Katie Stelmanis, accompanied by Maya Postepski (drums) and Dorian Wolf (bass), ventures once more into her unsettling 'goth' electro world and delivers something beautifully strange.

Under the Austra name Stelmanis' trio explore a range of territories and emotive areas not unlike the strangely dark edges of the The Knife's best moments where the unsettling meets the playful and then by turns the oddity factor of Fever Ray almost by default.

Of course the most distinctive thing about Austra is always going to be Stelmanis' operatic vocal style but the songs themselves are stronger, poppier, than before, more liable to stick in your brain and have you humming them for hours, in particular the uptempo 'Lose It' which has literally been, rattling around this reviewers brain for weeks.

Perhaps the closest artist to which you could compare Austra would be Bat For Lashes however there's less, fantasy dust on display here as Austra prefer to emote more grit, grime and real world anxiety amongst their own particular brand of fairy glitter pop.

Crippled Black Phoenix - The Cluny, Newcastle - 8th April

As anyone who knows The Cluny is aware the venues stage can comfortably accommodate a standard 4/5 piece band, 6 at a push depending on the setup. Anyone who knows Crippled Black Phoenix, and that's the bulk of tonight's crowd of course, also knows they are far from a standard band and number eight (usually). I counted eight tonight, or seven, maybe, it's hard to tell as it's a bloody tight squeeze up there! People and instruments are cramped together and meld into one!

But it doesn't appear to hinder them as they launch into their own unique mix of prog-cum-post-rock. Drawing mostly from new album 'I, Vigilante' and 2009's '200 Tons of Bad Luck' CBP immediately hit their groove and conjur up a succession of heavy and melodic tunes which ebb and flow as they drive forward. Amply sized songs like the lurching, unsettling 'Troublemaker' or the dreamy epic that is 'Burnt Reynolds' rub glacial paced shoulders with each other, brittle but immensely solid - the sound you'd imagine from musical granite.

The crowd is good (healthy) not huge, but CBP receive enthusiastic and justified applause each time one of these mini-epics reaches a natural conclusion and commence another and when 'Rise Up and Fight' beats out its tribal rhythms, lead by Joe Volk's emotive vocals and a series of strident, drum figures, guitar riffs and embellishing synth swirls, the venue becomes awash in a maelstrom aural nuances making for an unbelievably immersive listen. It's this atmosphere which lingers on throughout their set.

Beautifully realised music from a talented group deserving of more attention.