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South 'With The Tides'
South have always been a band teetering on the brink of success since their painfully fashionable folk-hop EP’s first appeared in 1999. Oddly, this acclaim never quite translated to record sales and Joel Cadbury, Brett Shaw and Jamie McDonald were relegated to the ‘they could’ve been contenders’ file. This, their second album, finds them riding on a renewed critical wave and doing an impressive job of the unenviable task of re-introducing themselves to people who think they already know the band.
Like their most obvious contemporaries Doves (who’s ‘There Goes The Fear’ is deftly and enjoyably reappropraited in ‘Same Old Story’) there are echoes of formative years submerged in dance music in South. But while Doves more pounding songs reflect a mainstream house background, ‘With The Tides’ peers from under the Mo' Wax influence of their James Lavelle-helmed background and their more beats n’ cuts orientated upbringing. This is a mixed blessing, as U.N.K.L.E.’s complex and cooler-than-thou stylings can be far more intimidating than their more populist dance cousins’ simpler beats and hooks. Admittedly there are great tracks like 'Motiveless Crime’, with it’s foot shuffling syncopated rhythms, rubber bass and sweeping DJ Shadow-ish strings and the prog hop near masterpiece ‘Fragile Day’ which mixes trip hop, gentle acoustic guitars, lush orchestration and a beautifully hushed vocal.
But this also proves the record’s undoing. If you’re lucky enough to have crafted something with this much cinematic ambition and enjoyably au courant instrumentation, it’s a necessity to have a melodic and lyrical/emotional content that equals or even betters its surroundings, and ‘With The Tides’ doesn’t always rise to the occasion. ‘Natural Disasters’, ‘Mend These Trends’ and ‘Silver Sun’ all sound impressive enough (wristy drumming, dubsome bass and ear tweaking sonic bleats) but lack a phrase or chorus that lingers after the final chord rings out.
When it’s good though, it’s very good. Both singles, the brilliant dark, string laden and banjo strewn romp ‘Loosen Your Hold’ and the bolder, twisted ‘Colours In Waves’ are impressive (despite the latter’s guitar line, which bears a frightening similarity to U2’s ‘Bullet The Blue Sky’) and may hold the key to gaining the recognition that the London trio have been threatening for nearly four years. While ‘Nine Lives’ and ‘What I Find’ are glimmering slices of sinister Buckley folk pop and more than deserving of repeated listens.
In the same way that their early releases were overly praised, ‘With The Tides’ probably won’t be given the respect it deserves as the band don’t fit into current musical favour and have been on the margins for too long. This would be a shame. It may be a flawed record but even on weaker tracks, there is a feeling of undeniable potential. A fine comeback from a band that have never really been away, they just haven't quite arrived yet.
South 'With The Tides' (Sanctuary) Released March 29, 2004.
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