Woodbine - Woodbine > Reviews > Undiscovered gem

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Brilliantly atmospheric record
Disadvantages:	May be too awkward for some

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Although Domino Records are now best known as the home of Franz Ferdinand and The Arctic Monkeys, their name was made for many years through a rather more select audience; mainly distributing albums by US alt-heroes like Smog and Sebadoh, and low-key UK indie acts. Woodbine fall squarely into the latter category: their debut album, released in 1999, thrives on such lo-fi aesthetics, even occasionally making the record sound like nothing else before or since.

Allegedly home recorded on a 4-track by the band (and then mixed by US-band Royal Trux), a sense of mystery pervades the whole album; little information is given, the band are not named/pictured, and the artwork’s relation to the music seems abstract. This all suits the music perfectly; itself a strange, low-key creation. 'Mounds Of Venus' opens and highlights the Woodbine sound – 'dominated' by acoustic guitar and welcoming bass, which remain sparse throughout, keyboards and electric guitar add melody, somewhat dissonantly, and a drum loop (there is no real drummer) bursts through from time to time, adding a pace and groove needed for this song, that other tracks will later discard. What holds the attention are the female vocals, which are mixed down as part of the whole sound: it is hard to make out all the lyrics but, as with the rest of the record, it's all about the feel, that continues throughout: a strange, woozing, lilting sound as though the album was recorded at around 3am in the morning

I could be crass and refer to it as a 'chill-out' record – it could serve such a purpose in some ways – but it's too uncomfortable with itself to simply be your coffee-table friend, and it's the little mistakes of tape hiss, clicks and distortion that really focus the attention the more you listen to it. 'Neskwik' takes its name from drug slang, and refers to such experiences throughout ('we ride the highs/ we ride the lows'), comes in on a wave of nasty, staccato piano and features a prominent distorted guitar lurching around a distracting melody, but the rest of the song is so sparse as to make these moments important; to reflect a bad experience in the midst of something soothing.

This is followed by 'Been Where You Are', where a lone bass drum keeps the track slowly moving for six minutes. Picked acoustic guitar gives it shape, subtle slide guitar keeps it alive, and the wonderful echoing vocals swirl in and out of clarity. It may not sound like much, but then the actual sound of it is beautiful: working within the confines of the recording system to create something perfect and memorable.

There's not a bad track here, frankly, and everything holds interest; but some tracks are less fully formed than others, and take time to fully lodge in the brain. 'Tony Portrait Of A Serial Killer' could be too awkward, never settling down, it is agitated and twitchy. But it serves its purpose, developing the themes of the album. 'I Hope That You Get What You Want' follows, similar to 'Been Where You Are', but more in focus. It sounds just as sad and lost, whilst still retaining all the warmth and beauty.

As you've probably worked out by now, this is not a collection of singles chucked together for maximum impact: it's going for something more long-term, a record-long coherent journey shot through with melancholia. So 'That's Enough' is another blurred wisp, never quite coming into focus; but then 'Tricity Tiara' pushes melody and structure to the fore, with actual discernible verses and choruses and all that. The male vocals come to the fore here: clearer but not as affective, and less subtle. The songs are simple but, like the sparseness, it's fundamental to making them work. You wouldn't want it any other way.

Therefore 'Complete Control' is a bluesy, breezy acoustic number; 'Classical' is an odd, mostly instrumental, mostly tuneless concoction; and the 'Outer Circle' swirls round and round as you might expect, and is just great, simple as that. Each track has its own sound and vision, but they all fit together, feel like someone's spent time and effort into making the album work as a whole: something to be applauded as seemingly rare nowadays. And finally, 'Wake Up Sleeping' is… very hard to describe – a sort of baroque classical guitar soundtracked by various samples and atmospheres. Like the rest of the album, description is hard and unsatisfactory: it demands to be listened to. I can only hope this review convinces some to do just that.