For anyone like me who saw Close Lobsters back in there 80's heyday it's always a good thing to hear they are back again and have a new album out, no matter what a mouthful the albums title might be, but that title makes sure you know that the lyrics are going to be a bit complex and that the band are aiming at being arty indie these days same as it ever was I hear you cry.
They are also staying true to the mantra on the back of the first single from this album Under London Skies that came out in 2016 and states on the back cover "We Live in one single happy catastrophe an open consumer penitentiary that repays the traumatic drama of the game where our senses and souls are resold as commodity the eternal return of the eversame one fine day this will change..."
From the moment you hear the opening All Compasses Go Wild it's totally clear that Close Lobsters are back sounding well just like they always have as a great Scottish Indie band as this is shimmering guitars and a surprisingly optimistic lyrics that in the second half of the song are a cool mixture of spoken and sung.
The Absent Guest (No Thing, No There) almost feels like they are going for a Chamber shoegaze feel while the vocals sound like they are being sung in a very enclosed space that is rather happy that guest is absent as they don't have room for them as the guitars chime as the song races along.
Johnnie is in no way related to any previous songs you or I may know called Johnnie, in this case it's an urgent plea to a friend and brother to keep his head above water and to survive whatever is happening to him, let's hope the message gets through and he gets his salvation in time.
Bird Free jangles like its still 1987 even if Andrew Burnett's vocals sound more burnished now than they did back then.
The current single Godless has them almost sounding like the Psychedelic Furs with deeper and smokier vocals than normal on a song with a good message that is totally on point being about universal emancipation in the dark times we are in.
Let The Days Drift Away really sounds like a perfect song for 2020 as for many of us this year has been drifting away as our identities seem to be dissipating as they seem to sound quite a bit like Flesh For Lulu's last album after they reformed.
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Now Time is more overtly jangly Psychedelic Furs style almost anthemic indie rock with a great la la la style chorus this is the sort of song that ends up stuck in you head for weeks after hearing it and it also has probably the best guitar solo on the album I love this song.
New York City In Space is an ode both in celebration and commiseration for the good and bad of the big Apple that sounds like Condition Blue era Jazz Butcher and has an achingly triumphal guitar solo. As they take us back to the days when you could still go to CBGB's in the Bowery.
The album closes with both sides of the first single from the album that came out in 2016 Under London Skies which as I said at the time is a real Willie Nile style pop rocker that pays tribute to the bands heroes and what it was like being in London in the late 80's like a carefully parsed tour through the bands own history and always good to hear a shout out for Peter Perrett especially when this came out just before Peter's own revival really took off.
The single version of Wander Epic was Part II, but on the download you got parts I, II and III, now on the album you get Wander Epic Parts I & Ii that is an 9 minute plus journey into Arab Strap style atmospherics and dour storytelling with chiming descending guitars and a careful narration of the Wanderers tale as it morphs into part Ii it becomes a bit more jangly and upbeat at the observational lyrics continue.
Find out more at https://closelobsters.bandcamp.com/album/post-neo-anti-arte-povera-in-the-forest-of-symbols https://www.facebook.com/closelobsters/
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