"My teeth glow like an igloo wall"
The television was on after my mother disappeared in the direction of Bedfordshire the other night. Alex Zane, that curly haired cutie that I always tell myself I don't fancy, popped up and my attention caught the tail end of an introduction. He was saying that the next band hailed from all over but were based in Manchester.
Then they played this song.
Gloriously eccentric, funky and punctuated by whistles. That instant agreement between a sound and my innards that personally prompts obsession struck me at once.
I typed the lyrics into Google as the singer sang them, for fear that if I didn't it would be another of many prior occasions where I fell for something only to be left with no clue what the song was or who it was by at the end of it.
Google was no help.
The lyrics I had, thanks to my poor hearing were not recognisable. Though it should also be noted that the phrases he was actually singing added to the impediment of incomprehension.
“Yes I miss you like a formless hide - stretching over me and dangled from the coastguard in a chopper, the scaffold of me all awry.”
If I squint it totally makes sense now but first time
??
Thankfully at the end of the show the band came back, I think they played “My Kz Your Bf”, which makes sense because it is there current single but I'm not sure, nevermind, what is important is that this time I caught their name.
Everything, Everything.
I listened to their album Man Alive on Spotify and was only a few songs in when I decided to buy it from Amazon on mp3.
“Final Form”
This is far and away my favourite song from the album. This live performance is a very nice version it's also illustrative of their style because watching them do it really pinpoints the perfect crisp beat somehow.
The lyrics are also favourites of mine.
“I wish the summer was over us in bursts, we're in the middle of nothing we can hold, and the sewers erupting in gold, I'm gonna happen and happen until my whole gives up the ghost, I'm gonna renew my sinew until my cells divide no more.”
I love it so much it sounds so defiant somehow.
Although if I'm going to be honest the song's main brilliance for me is it's combination of militaristic percussion and sweetly falsetto voice.
There is a great abundance of both of these elements across the album as a whole. As well as wonderful outbreaks of swelling synth and three part harmonisation. Another key and wonderful trick they have is their entire willingness to mix things up. They specialise in setting up rhythms with this beautifully regimented and seemingly stable percussion and soaring melodies to then vary and interrupt them both entirely unexpectedly to spin off in another direction entirely. It makes it hard to be bored by their sound.
What else can I say of this album
“Photoshop Handsome” is brilliance, in the same exact vein as “Final Form”,
The only criticism I would have is that their moody slow numbers are slightly less successful. For example the harpsichord based“Two for Nero”. I keep almost liking it but it feels disjointed to it's detriment. The lyrics in places seem potentially heartrending, “I want to tell you that it means so much.” and the final repeated sentiment “all these things I'll tell you when you wake up.” give the suggestion that it wanted to settle into an introspective melancholy but in the end it skitters around too much to attach itself to anything so meaningful. I mean the opening is him going on about game consoles and
“You said lets fuck the Ozone but boy that holes too wide.” is too lol for the proceedings to attain much pathos afterwards.
This is the only criticism.
There is nothing by way of emotion.
The lack of a clear meaning gets a bit annoying too at times.
One of the things they've said about their own music is that they actively analyse other people's music with view to what they like about it but that they spend some time trying not to sound like anyone else.
Man Alive succeeds at least as a unique experience as far as I'm concerned.
Because the lead singer of Everything Everything sometimes looks a disquieting amount like a slightly blunter faced Peter McEnery I have been watching Entertaining Mr Sloane too much. I'm gonna screencap that bitch at some point.
Then they played this song.
Click to viewGloriously eccentric, funky and punctuated by whistles. That instant agreement between a sound and my innards that personally prompts obsession struck me at once.
I typed the lyrics into Google as the singer sang them, for fear that if I didn't it would be another of many prior occasions where I fell for something only to be left with no clue what the song was or who it was by at the end of it.
Google was no help.
The lyrics I had, thanks to my poor hearing were not recognisable. Though it should also be noted that the phrases he was actually singing added to the impediment of incomprehension.
“Yes I miss you like a formless hide - stretching over me and dangled from the coastguard in a chopper, the scaffold of me all awry.”
If I squint it totally makes sense now but first time
??
Thankfully at the end of the show the band came back, I think they played “My Kz Your Bf”, which makes sense because it is there current single but I'm not sure, nevermind, what is important is that this time I caught their name.
Everything, Everything.
I listened to their album Man Alive on Spotify and was only a few songs in when I decided to buy it from Amazon on mp3.
“Final Form”
This is far and away my favourite song from the album. This live performance is a very nice version it's also illustrative of their style because watching them do it really pinpoints the perfect crisp beat somehow.
The lyrics are also favourites of mine.
“I wish the summer was over us in bursts, we're in the middle of nothing we can hold, and the sewers erupting in gold, I'm gonna happen and happen until my whole gives up the ghost, I'm gonna renew my sinew until my cells divide no more.”
I love it so much it sounds so defiant somehow.
Although if I'm going to be honest the song's main brilliance for me is it's combination of militaristic percussion and sweetly falsetto voice.
There is a great abundance of both of these elements across the album as a whole. As well as wonderful outbreaks of swelling synth and three part harmonisation. Another key and wonderful trick they have is their entire willingness to mix things up. They specialise in setting up rhythms with this beautifully regimented and seemingly stable percussion and soaring melodies to then vary and interrupt them both entirely unexpectedly to spin off in another direction entirely. It makes it hard to be bored by their sound.
What else can I say of this album
“Photoshop Handsome” is brilliance, in the same exact vein as “Final Form”,
The only criticism I would have is that their moody slow numbers are slightly less successful. For example the harpsichord based“Two for Nero”. I keep almost liking it but it feels disjointed to it's detriment. The lyrics in places seem potentially heartrending, “I want to tell you that it means so much.” and the final repeated sentiment “all these things I'll tell you when you wake up.” give the suggestion that it wanted to settle into an introspective melancholy but in the end it skitters around too much to attach itself to anything so meaningful. I mean the opening is him going on about game consoles and
“You said lets fuck the Ozone but boy that holes too wide.” is too lol for the proceedings to attain much pathos afterwards.
This is the only criticism.
There is nothing by way of emotion.
The lack of a clear meaning gets a bit annoying too at times.
One of the things they've said about their own music is that they actively analyse other people's music with view to what they like about it but that they spend some time trying not to sound like anyone else.
Man Alive succeeds at least as a unique experience as far as I'm concerned.
Because the lead singer of Everything Everything sometimes looks a disquieting amount like a slightly blunter faced Peter McEnery I have been watching Entertaining Mr Sloane too much. I'm gonna screencap that bitch at some point.