Glasvegas - Glasvegas review

Originally posted at www.loudandquiet.com

A band that accompanies a 7” release with a cover of a Nirvana song can be accurately described with one of the following two words; ‘geniuses’ or, to be honest, ‘fools’. Admittedly, I’m not a particularly big grunge fan, but Glasvegas’ boldness (or some would argue cheek) to accompany their new single ‘Daddy’s Gone’ with a cover of ‘Come As You Are’ was a particularly brave move. Thankfully, their debut album, ‘Glasvegas’ follows in this bold and brash vein.

Glasvegas tend to wear their hearts and influences on their sleeves. When the listener isn’t treading on egg shells as front man James Allan recalls less than sunny memories of childhood, they are able to pick out meta-songs, that is, songs which reference other works by musicians. On ‘It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry’ Allan growls “What’s the Story Morning Glory? I feel so low I’m Loveless”. Album titles hidden in that lyric have been duly capitalised, but Glasvegas certainly swing towards the My Bloody Valentine wall-of-noise side of things as opposed to the shouty anthems of Oasis. ‘Flowers & Football Tops’, which, despite the title sounding like Danny Dyer’s attempt at lyricism, is actually a sweltering proto-shoegaze-come-rock affair and never before has the childhood lullaby ‘You Are My Sunshine’ sounded so poignant and haunted.

Allan’s, and of course, his merry bunch of men and women that make up Glasvegas have a knack for twisting nostalgic, “sunshine” memories and turning them into something much darker. Flick through the album and you are treated to ‘Stabbed’, which can be aptly summarised as gang warfare versus a classical piano piece, versus Arab Strap.

Even ice cream is traumatic to Allan, as he recalls in ‘Ice Cream Van’ – “there’s a storm on the horizon/I can’t see the sun/I’ll keep waiting on the pavement/for the ice cream van t’ come”. However, Allan’s broken down murmurs do come with an explanation. In ‘Geraldine’ he reveals a protagonist tight-rope-walking between life and death, who is only saved by Geraldine, a social worker who howls “When you’re standing there/on the window ledge/I’ll talk you back from the edge”.

The polarity expressed throughout Glasvegas’ debut is perhaps one of their most interesting aspects and adds new dimensions to the record throughout subsequent listens. Switching between moments of bliss ambience like the aforementioned ‘Ice Cream Van’ and swirling, moon lit songs such as the Echo and the Bunnymen-influenced ‘Polmont on my Mind’, Glasvegas move between stark, contrasting emotions like musical shape shifters, which all add up to one key fact about Glasvegas’ debut…It is a revelatory listen.

9/10