Still unquestionably one of Manchester's most jealously guarded secrets, NARCISSUS seem content to let their talent seep out quietly into the public domain. They play the odd sporadic live show and the whiff of greatness wafts around after them; then they finally get around to releasing their (if memory serves) third EP and the feeling of impending greatness is once again compounded.
Because, make no mistake, "The Window" - the long-awaited follow-up to September 2003's fine "Friends In High Places" EP - once again reeks of star quality. As ever, the first thing that strikes you is the unfeasibly high register vocalist Ben Guy can achieve. Unlike the currently fashionable crop of Jeff Buckley/ Chris Martin wannabes, Guy sounds like the reverse male premise of Chungking's Jessie Banks. On their albums, she can sing with a soulful depth you'd take to be Teddy Pendergrass rather than a girl from Brighton, while Ben Guy achieves the opposite: singing in a remarkable high register you'd assume was of female origin if you didn't know better.
Once you've again re-acquainted yourself with Guy's skill and dexterity, "The Window" - the title track - is again something special to behold. It has a spooky, dubby premise that's smoky and positively Bristolian in its' execution and is nicely setting itself up as pop-noir of the highest quality when it blossoms out into a euphoric, anthemic chorus with tangible hints of The Stone Roses thrown in for good measure. Everyone involved sounds rightly proud of what they've done and so they should be: "The Window" is once again Narcissus at their best.
Just to show how much regard they have for the song, the band have also commissioned a remix, and for once, the 'Dark Matter' mix of the song is a remould worthy of countenancing. This time round, the song's dancefloor potential is pulled into line, with Ben's voice brought into the foreground and treated quite heavily. The original's spooked pulse, though, remains steady in the background.
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"Burning Candles", meanwhile, is more in line with Narcissus's harder driving live sound, with dirty, snaking guitar figures making their presence felt and the band riding out the maelstrom in real style. It's a nice contrast to the closing "The Truth Hurts", which - in typical Narcs strength-in-depth style - is arguably the very best track here. It's a truly soulful, languid swoon of a comedown song and once again nurtures that subterranean dubby aspect the band are quietly nurturing so well. "The Truth Hurts?" Yup, it sure does, but sometimes it hurts so good. And this is definitely one of those occasions.
So yeah, it's all been a long time coming, but so what? Surely we put far too much pressure on our favourite bands to succeed these days anyway, and talent like Narcissus's ought to be nurtured and encouraged rather than hassled into producing ill-conceived releases for the sake of product alone. Certainly this writer would like them to retain/ improve on this quality as and when they finally make that album after all.
And in the meantime? Well, let's savour this and mull over the fact that quality can still count over quantity. Besides, an 18-month gestation spell hardly makes them the next Blue Nile, does it? Of course not, and for the moment we've got the view from "The Window" to savour. You can take me at my word that it's a truly inspiring sight to behold.
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