By: Kevin Scott
Simian Ghost | facebook | soundcloud |
Released on September 8, 2014 via !K7 / Playground
Let’s imagine for a moment that Brian Wilson fled to Sweden with Fleet Foxes and decided to make an album. Bit of a stretch, or perhaps a musical fantasy, but thankfully we have Simian Ghost to compensate us for the unlikely elopement of Wilson and Foxes.
The Veil is Simian Ghost’s third album and it is one of fragile beauty. Of that there is no question, however any time you see 18-tracks on the back of an album, the words ‘quality control’ come screaming out at you with a question mark that can prove insurmountable. And ultimately The Veil, despite its many strengths, which we’ll come to, suffers from simply having too much content: it doesn’t need 18 tracks and it doesn’t need to be over an hour long.
The highlight though: the album starts strongly with lush, warm harmonies washing in on a west-coast melody on ‘Float’. It’s a common theme and the chord changes, reminiscent of 60s surf pop, are certain to inspire images of smiles, sand and sunshine.
This is a great marker and it’s one that Simian Ghost drive from. When the beat picks up on songs like ‘Cut-Off Point’ the band, from Sandviken in Sweden, sound like they’re on the the verge of greatness. The melody as upbeat as the lyrics, the harmonies glorious. With the production rich and polished, there a full sound to the album with elements of Scandi-pop and shoegaze throughout, but like many bands from this part of the world, there are always dark undercurrents: ‘I have wasted most of my time / I have wasted most of my life,’ repeats singer, guitarist and programme Sebastian Arnström on ‘Cut-Off Point’ and, on ‘A Million Shining Colours: ‘I just wasn’t meant to fit in, but god knows I try.’
On many of the tracks, the band – which in addition to Arnström features Mathias Zachrisson on guitar and backing vocals, and Erik Klinga on drums – are joined by Maja Agnevik, whose voice harmonises with Arnström’s to create some genuine moments of wonder.
There are times though – mostly on the second half of the album – where the tracks could, and arguably should have been shelved. When the band go into a more experimental mode, like on ‘Secret Meadow’ or ‘Stange Light’ there’s a sense of frustration. We’ve just been warmly welcomed into the lush, beautiful landscape and this sensual experience of the album is distorted by low bass and drum loops.
The occasional gem still leaps out though: the delightful ‘Scattered and Careless’ full of vibrancy, light guitars and brisk drums, or the radio friendly ‘Never Really Knew’, which has one of the the best hooks I’ve heard all year. The strength of this track actually serves to highlight the weakness of others though and that prevents the album from being something more than ordinary.
Of course it is a band’s place to expand their repertoire and integrate new ideas into their work, but it’s about seamlessly integrating that into the defining sound of the band that is key. On that, Simian Ghost have fallen short, but despite this, there’s some exceptional tracks contained on ‘The Veil’, you just may find yourself skipping ahead in places.
