My Latest Novel - Manchester Bierkeller Blowout - 10.3.06
4/5
By: Hannah Bayfield
OK, my bias. That's where we'll have to start. I've got a thing for Scottish bands; in fact I'm having trouble trying to think of a Scottish band I don't like. It's the accents, I think. Or perhaps it's simply the more viable fact that there's a hell of a lot of talent lurking north of the border, My Latest Novel being no exception.
They've been hailed as the Scottish Arcade Fire, and certainly there are similarities: sweeping melodies that can sound solemn yet uplifting, a penchant for folk music, multiple vocalists, but by comparing MLN to Arcade Fire one misses an important factor. They are unavoidably Scottish, just close your eyes and you could be stood atop a highland mountain munching haggis. Or something like that.
Opening with 'Pretty in a Panic', simple guitar gets layered with enchanting violins from Laura McFarlane; but there is nothing else simple about MLN, with tempo changes galore and Laura's spoken vocals reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian's 'Dirty Dream No. 2'. My Latest Novel possess the quite remarkable ability to make us feel we are somewhere far lighter and airier than the dingy basement that is the Bierkeller, and this continues with a rendition of 'When We Were Wolves', one so forceful that the gathering throng are blown away. 'Wrongfully, I Rested' builds into a track so beautiful you simply have to inhale as deeply as one can to absorb it in all its glory.
And with latest single, 'The Reputation of Ross Francis', MLN are gone. They, and we, have been cheated: being that there is no way 25 minutes and six songs counts as enough, and that 1am curfew now seems cruelly early.
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment