Not quite as easy as I'd expect from A&C, having a more rocky almost Krautrock feel.
An insistent bassline, nice harmonising vocals, shiny almost Can-like guitars, with these very, very nice pastoral breakdowns. Vaguely psychedlic almost.
Any song which namechecks Bobby Gillespie and Stuart Murdoch is all right with me. A beautiful, sweet pop song with the choice lyric "when I'm with you it's like Scottish Pop". Gorgeous.
from A Different Lifetime, available on CD (hitBACK)
More grist to my mill that there are lots of really good things going unsigned in the easy listening-folk- pop world - the fella that wrote this sits very close to me where I work. A really nicely-put together, low key pop song with a beautiful vocal melody. Available for FREE dammit at http://artists2.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/Random_Bruce/. 'Sometimes anything' and 'had to be there' are also well worth a listen.
from - (- -) available on CD - not currently professionally recorded
From the film of the same name. This has to be one the darkest songs from the Tindersticks. It features the lush string arrangements that the band has been shying away from lately, and incorporates some soulful pizzicato effects. Guitarist Dickon Hinchcliff contributes vocals along with Stuart Staples. Haunting.
available on CD - Trouble Every Day (Beggar's Banquet)
Forget everything I wrote about Trojan Curfew - I have now decided that a) his new band can be pretty brilliant, and b) I slightly overrated TC - the music is astonishingly beautiful, but the lyrics are all downhill from the second verse.
Now - Church on white is the real deal. Yet more of Malkmus' beautiful, aching music (how _does_ he do it?), with his voice giving more meaning to lines such as 'carry on/ it's a marathon' than they probably deserve. The chorus of 'All you ever wanted/ was everything/ plus everything/ and the truth/ I only bought you/ half a lie' is one of his best, as is the instrumental break. His best solo effort, is my opinion for this evening at least.