By: Karthik Murugesan
The Agency | facebook |
Released on July 28, 2014 via Solar Bear Records
‘Of Ghosts’, the second LP from ‘The Agency’, is an intricate collection of lyrically dense tales filled with hopeless nostalgia and dark romance. The instrumentation is rich with bass driven melodies and wandering piano parts that mix well with the low, muscular vocals and poetic lyrics. Perhaps not an album for everyone, but it could definitely be an album for you.
After listening to the first track of the LP, ‘She’, I immediately tore off my headphones and headed for my local library, searching for newspaper clippings of any past interviews and reviews concerning ‘The Agency’. Following a lengthy but informative discussion with Carol the librarian, we both came to the conclusion that although we both longed for the far simpler paper age, my best bet would be to try the internet. She did say that I was very polite and earnest for someone so young, but quickly sent me on my way towards a library PC with my very own username and password. It was here that I was not surprised to find a lot of reviews giving adulating, but perhaps grandiose comparisons with many musical heavyweights renowned for penning moody music with moody landscapes.
I never actually went to the local library, but the long winded and poorly executed point that I was trying to convey was that The Agency have a vigour about them that just invites the listener to go back in time and maybe even develop an urge to dust off that copy of ‘Songs of Love and Hate’ and remember or imagine a different age of music. The lyrics are poignant and the music is simple but stark and abrasive with an abundance of jangly guitar chords and big choruses. ‘Temple’ and ‘Child so Careless’ almost fall into the stadium rock arena with their incredibly catchy sing – a – long melodies and driving energy.
The Agency definitely have no issues with the breadth of their song subjects; a lot of the writing on show could hold their own as solitary pieces of writing. ‘Fast’ has been described as being a ‘song about political corruption that imagines the voices of the angels and the devils talking to the next bright young thing in the political world’. It is hard to imagine a line such as , ‘And what is it you want to be? Machiavelli or Plato’ followed by jolly ‘sha la la la’s’ but The Agency somehow manage it with ‘Fast’.
There are moments in ‘Of Ghosts’ where the pace of the album slows significantly in contrast to some of the high octane ‘rockers’; The profound ‘Border Song’ and the stripped back, acoustic guitar based, ‘Jack and Spade’ provide moments of respite. Although these tracks provide welcoming breaks in the album, with ‘Border Song’ being a particular delight with its echoing arpeggios, lazy sliding guitar and yearning lyricism: ‘You know that we could make it for the border, you’re right we’ve been running for too long’, ‘For the Daughter’ seems to be in danger of suffocating itself with its heavily dragging and seemingly infinite vocal drawl. However, if despair is supposed to be portrayed in this song, then it certainly achieved its goal.
The excellent ‘She’ is an infectious tune that really carries what ‘The Agency’ are capable of: A garish tale of a femme fatale that spills into ‘cartoonish’ melodrama ( in a good way). I always find myself smiling sheepishly when hearing lines such as ‘those lips taste bitter my friend, paints her eyes the darkest black’ or ‘her eyes they are the brown pools when men get lost struggling over the rocks’. ‘She’ in particular reminds me of the overt shock tactics used in Tarrantino movies; it may be slightly clichéd, exaggerated and even a bit mischievous, but it is still darn good.
The Agency may have a truckload of influences but they have done well to create their own stamp, purely through the quality of their song writing. Nevertheless, there are very definite similarities with certain artists and it certainly stands that if you are a fan of the musical path drawn by a mellow Nick Cave, or a doleful Ian Curtis(Is there any other kind?), then ‘Of Ghosts’ will probably appeal to you. Perhaps the immediately obvious association with stellar acts such as Nick Cave(& the Bad Seeds in particular) could be taken as a negative point, regardless of how impressive the comparison is. Nevertheless, when I listen to The Agency, it is certainly not with disdain that they have emulated the distinct sounds of other artists, but it is with an appreciation they they have done it so effectively and have managed to keep their own voice in the process.
