Glaciers - Living Right

More jangly goodness from Australia.  There seem to be several bands called Glaciers, making these guys a bit harder to identify and pigeonhole.  What is definitely the case is they released this album in 2016.  It opens with the quite glorious jangle of Winter, accompanied by soft vocals, which sets the tone for the album.  It's kind of driving around on a (dreaded) sunny day music, exemplified by Local Hero, Weekdays and everything else here.  Career Crisis is vaguely reminiscent of the brighter moments of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, and how can you not love a band who calls a song Ddouble Vvision!  Later in the album Sensible and the title track feature some gorgeous, liquid guitar lines.

If there is a criticism, it's that there is practically no variation across the album, but on the other hand, each of the 11 tracks here are seriously strong.

Album Review: The Return of the Durutti Column

The Durutti Column is the work of guitar virtuoso Vini Reilly, aided by legendary Joy Division producer Martin Hannett. This album, released in 1980, was his first, and is the only one I am really familiar with, but it’s a small hours classic. The first track, Sketch for Summer starts off with the sound of birds chirping, and leads into a rhythm track with a wonderfully spooky electric guitar echoing though it. These seemingly disparate elements mix into a hugely engaging track. This sets the template for the rest of this entirely instrumental album which follows in a similar vein, delicate electric guitar, minimal rhythm tracks and occasional keyboards. Sketch for Winter is a slight departure, featuring Reilly’s guitar on its own.

(Note: vocals do feature on one of the extra tracks, Sleep Will Come, though they are unobtrusive and don’t break up the flow.)

It’s the perfect soundtrack to driving around on a Monday night at about 2am in the depths of winter. Imagined or otherwise. Unfortunately, it seems to be impossible to get anywhere, so grab it if you see it.