06 March 2006

the sea urchins - "cling flim" (from the stardust lp, out of print, naturally.)

i saw the weather forecast this afternoon. it's calling for temperatures in the low 60's for the weekend. meanwhile, days are noticeably longer. spring is but two weeks away, which is as good a reason as any to break out one's sarah records.

the sea urchins, though, sound as if they're waiting for rain to break out; such weltschmerz is at least half the sarah story. like many of their labelmates, the sea urchins work up an effective jangle. what the listener isn't expecting to break out is a guitar squall, but that's just what happens during the choruses (or the gaps between verses that would normally function as choruses). a distorted line that sounds as if it absconded from a jamc record crackles and strikes, the resultant sound is like the air screaming as its torn apart by a bolt of lightning. this being a sarah record, i suppose i don't have to tell you what of our narrator's is being torn apart (hint: it's not his cling film). his consolation prize is that the rain, like everything else, is nicer in the spring.

(speaking of our narrator, sea urchins singer, james roberts, who formed britpop never-weres delta, released a solo album in the uk this year. it's getting great reviews, i understand; i'd be curious to know what it's like if anyone's heard it.)

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