The first track, which begins with a nice piano and guitar intro, immediately evokes an air of nostalgia. The drums are then introduced and the three parts combine nicely. The song is fairly reminiscent of Get Cape's first album, The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager, which incidentally was my favourite. I'd been hoping for this since Duckworth had described the album as different to his current work with Get Cape and I'd always preferred his earlier work. The song gets a little heavier around 2:30 which is really nice; the best part of the track.
The second track, Crane Song (The Wall), begins with a guitar intro more complex than that of the first song. Using a picking technique that he does very well, in this track Duckworth provides further parallels with the first Get Cape album. Around 2:20 a really nice chord progression is introduced. It's not the most memorable song of the album, but that's not really a problem. Very nice.
Next up is Nights, which begins with guitar and vocals melding well with the stronger drum beat that this song boasts. There are places in the song however where the vocals seems at odds with the other parts, so in this respect it could be better. This might not be such a problem, but on second listen it's still distracting.
The fourth track begins with another lovely guitar melody using a different
tone than has been used before. The vocals in this song remind me of Chronicles
which, as I've said before, is what I was hoping for. The lyrics and the way they're
sung are really soothing and contribute to the relaxing effect that the album,
and all of Sam Duckworth's current work, has. About 2:10 another guitar part is
introduced which is nice. It's definitely a highlight of the album for me.By Rhiannon Rees (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Next we reach Angels in the Snow, which starts off with two parts; one of which is a lovely picked guitar tune. The two parts go together nicely, something that Duckworth generally excels at. I particularly like the lyrics to this song, they remind me a little of Regina Spektor's work on her album Far. Also the vocals work well with the rest of the piece. The inclusion of an organ part in the background is interesting addition that works well. Finally there's a pause towards the end of the song that's nice for some reason.
The sixth song, The Miracle of Science, is more electronic than the other songs, but not too much so. I've got no problem with electronic music I should add, I just think that the later Get Cape records are a little too much so and I prefer the first album which is much more acoustic. The song's a little mysterious at the beginning and reminds me a bit of some of David Bowie's work on Space Oddity. It's a lot slower than the rest of the album which sets it apart; it also has a waltz style which makes it a little different. These differences don't ruin the song, on the contrary they make it unique and worth listening to. About 3:20 in the track speeds up and I find myself nodding along. At the end the lyrics have an effect that sound like they're being whispered which works and creates a nice atmosphere. Overall the song isn't a hit in the conventional sense, but it's one of my favourites from the album.
The seventh track is called This Farmer, and begins at a slower pace than many of the other songs. About a minute in the drums are introduced way too loudly. They're only slightly too prominent but the effect is very distracting. The lyrics are repetitive in places as well. About 3:30 the song speeds up which produces a nice effect. The presence of backing vocals sets this track apart from the others and gives it an interesting quality.
Next up is Clementine, the eighth song of the album, which has a niceish guitar introduction- I'm not crazy about it but it's ok. It gets better about 30 seconds in when another acoustic guitar part is added. The song however lacks variation which makes it a little monotonous- not necessarily boring, but definitely lacking. Towards the end of the song there's a slight change to the chord progression; it changes to an ascending chord pattern which is nice. This relieves some of the sense of monotony, but not enough.
The final track, 8888, begins with drums and guitar; very much like some of the work on Chronicles though the guitar part in the background is definitely different. Everything in this song fits together well, it's all very tight. The tambourine is a nice addition, however it’s way too loud. It's more prominent than the guitar, which is a problem. The song works well as the album finale as the parts when there are lots of parts interacting make it seem grand. It's not terribly interesting for the most part, but it's a nice song.
Overall it's a nice album. I like the fact that it's less electronic than Get Cape's newer work, and that it's similar to the first album that was released under that name. In places it is repetitive and can seem to lack variation in others. There are moments when everything is tight but others when it seems like things aren't quite melding together well enough. Despite these faults it's a nice piece, very relaxing. I give it a 7.8/10. It's not as good as The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager, but then I suppose comparing the two is a little strange since they're from separate projects. To summarise it's a nice relaxing album where, although it has faults, the talent is obvious. Good work from Sam Duckworth as expected, and I'll be keeping an eye on any future developments.
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