24 Results for : bleakness
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Night's Last Tomorrow
Review by Mick Mercer: 'The Night's Last Tomorrow' As satisfying as last year's darkly compelling 'A Southern Tale' this album relaxes in some comfort. Sinnis has achieved a type of decisive bleakness here which means he can do it almost softly, as the Gothic and Country influences melt lazily or hazily together. Where 'A Southern Tale' seemed a closeted collection, as though recorded indoors secretively, trying to keep something out and thoughts locked in, this album seems bathed in cool light, as though recorded outdoors. Never maudlin, while definitely moving on from glass-half-empty to gargling-poison-dismissively, it takes dark moods and lightens the load while you listen. 'The Night's Last Tomorrow' is a wonderfully drippy thing, the delicate balance seemingly suspended from the steel guitar, as quality lyrics also hover, Sinnis' vocals quivering somewhat but sticking to the point in a masterful display. It lulls you completely, because in another style it could be deeply depressing but here it's a curiously blissful opener. In the troubled '15 Miles To Hell's Gate' he's like a swashbuckling son of Johnny Cash, swaying and crooning dramatically, then we move towards an almost laconic 'Your Past May Come Back To Haunt Me' which unrolls a soothing red carpet beneath twisted, suspicious lyrics all demurely wrapped in a smartly delineated arrangement that harnesses past styles and modern attitudes, allowing menace to mellow. 'Fallible Friend' could just as easily go with some mariachi, or frisky acoustic, but it's a plain and simple song instead, moving at a steady grim pace, like a crotchety Clint Eastwood whittling his own wooden leg. Time slows, it's that stately. 'Follow the Line' is easier on the ear, lilting musically while the vocals threaten to tip over the edge, which is almost out of character in this setting. An unexpected and dignified cover of 'Nine While Nine' also works very well with a refined delivery. We slide down a creepy chute during 'The Fever' with some queasy imagery, then skate warily over a playful lake of doubt in 'Skeletons' with it's cunning use of organ. 'Scars' is odd, like an old Simon & Garfunkel melody squashed flat, a fridge over befuddled slaughter, and the traditional 'St. James Infirmary' is very strange as well, as befits a song so old the original creator isn't positively known. This is a melodramatic piece of doom, where the words clash with the properly agonised mood. The protagonist's love is dead, in the mortuary (I assume) and he's proudly proclaiming, 'she'll never find another man like me.' Well, how gallant, unless I'm missing something? We touch down again on a softly sentimental 'Out of Reach', and perk up during the fabulous 'Quiet Change' which has a rising commercial tug about it, and then during a brilliant 'Gloomy Sunday' you get to see what Sinnis can do when cooped up with an unlikely task, like Roy Orbison walking down subterranean corridors, alone in the dark. Rewriting a well known song he tinkers with certain lines and while he changes the end for what must have been a personal need, at one point he actually improves a line completely and there's not many people can do that, which may explain why on his website lyrics are referred to defiantly as poetry. 'In Harmony' will confuse as the churchy feel professes a quiet relief that death is approaching, as a friend, in catchy surroundings, then it all dies slowly away for good with the suitably sensitive 'When the Light Blinds and You Follow' A remarkably assured album this, and in many ways it must be quite funny for him, considering his punky past. I bet half his relatives are thinking, 'he was bound to come to his senses eventually.' Mature, melodic and at times as restful as it is haunting, this is really quite superb and as he's releasing an album ever year you wonder when he'll peak, because this is still just the ascent.- Shop: odax
- Price: 26.63 EUR excl. shipping
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