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Review: Jack Foley
THEY'VE been described as a stoner's dream in some quarters and
it's easy to see why when you listen to the blissfully chilled
out self-titled debut album from Engineers.
The London-based four-piece seem to have the uncanny knack for
delivering atmospheric tracks of sheer brilliance, as exemplified
in their quietly mesmerising EP, Folly,
last year.
Several months on, and following the successful release of Forgiveness
as a single, the band return with their debut long-player
in typically emphatic style.
Driven by Simon Phipps' ghost-like vocals and the guitars of
Dan McBean and Mark Peters, Engineers take pride in the knowledge
that their music doesn't conform to stereotype.
For sure, there's elements of Spiritualized and traces of indie
circa Stone Roses' I Wanna Be Adored, but Engineers deliver
it in their own inimitable style.
Their music is almost always slow-building, yet virtually guaranteed
to chill you out with some truly epic highs.
Opening track, Home, for instance, is a terrific introduction,
rife with shimmering guitar loops, keyboards and strings.
It eases effortlessly into Waved On, which contains
a laidback bassline to rival The Jesus and Mary Chain in their
heyday, while also packing it with electronic flourishes that
set it on a different plain.
Forgiveness contains a welcome ring of familiarity given
its radio play on stations such as Xfm, while the soothing Come
In Out Of The Rain is almost hypnotic in quality, easing
the listener into a hopelessly relaxed state of mind without the
need for any recreational pharmaceuticals.
Another album highlight, however, is the indie anthem, Thrasher,
which as its name suggests is more deliberately upbeat. It shows
there could be another side to the outfit.
The only minor criticism is that the sound is so laid back, at
times, that it does run the risk of running into each other, while
in live form it might come across as a little too repetitive.
Certainly, the Kasabian
brigade is likely to dimiss it merely as song-writing for the
indie shoe-gazing crowd.
But if it's thoughtful, chilled out and symphonic that you're
after, then Engineers have surely delivered one of the very best
albums of the year. Count me in.
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