Haven 'All For A Reason'
After carving themselves a modest empire of dreamily disaffected souls with their Johnny Marr produced debut LP and the truly beautiful 'Say Something' single, Haven are returning after a little too long away.
Maybe it's fallout from some obscure bit of shortsighted, late nineties A&R policy, but Haven seem to be the latest in a line of likeable underachievers (Goldrush, Crackout and, tragically, Easyworld) returning to their seats only to find that their original USP (in Haven's case the undeniably beautiful 'Say Something') was insufficient to reserve their place. Having made too much of an impact to be forgotten but not enough for their return to be 'hotly anticipated', they're now facing an unhappy combination of expectation and indifference.
As with so much in this business we call show, this is grossly unfair; Haven have had a tough time of it. They've been beaten up in America, the album was delayed by guitarist Nat Watson's brush with Bell's Palsy and Johnny Marr has relinquished production duties (although he co-wrote two of these tracks and his 'flavour will always be knocking around', as Nat worryingly asserts). But their biggest problem is that too much of 'All For A Reason' is charmless and unwelcoming without repeated listenings and their history isn't sufficiently stellar to afford them that luxury.
Of the two tracks penned with Marr the first, 'Have No Fear', probably has the edge. Subtly complex guitar phrases ease into a breathy, confident vocal which manages Haven's occasionally neat trick of expressing misery with joy - kind of like leaping up and down with a massive grin while asking for a divorce. It'd benefit from a sparser production job but it's an accomplished piece of pomp-pop nonetheless.
Elsewhere 'The First Time' does a good job of introspective melancholy "Have I let go?/Cos I don't seem/To want the things I need" but never really lets things soar in the way they should. 'Don't Say A Word' - a tortured, claustrophobic, string-drenched number - brings a welcome touch of the night to proceedings and the title track itself kicks off with an encouraging flourish, before seemingly getting nervous and quickly toning things down.
But the bulk of the record - 'Change Direction', 'Something Moved Me', 'What Love Is' - slips by unannounced, unnoticed and unmourned, calling to mind not glorious highs and heartbreaking lows but merely the bits of 'Hollyoaks' where everyone's going about their business the morning after the latest car crash, housefire or divorce. We're left with a feeling of slight disappointment and a strong notion that Haven have Phil Redmond in their future.
Haven 'All For A Reason' (Virgin) Released March 22, 2004.
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