New Order - 'Waiting For The Sirens' Call' (London)
4/5
By: Kevin Molloy
First off, can we just mention: lovely punctuation. It's nice to see the apostrophe used with such a rare accuracy. More of such things later.
For now, though, how is one supposed to approach such luminaries as New Order certainly are? How are we to tell them that inevitable, but still heartbreaking piece of news: that their game is slowing to match the pace of their more venerable years?
This time, at least, there's no need for concern. Whilst few would object that there's been a certain mellowing of latter-day New Order, all that has done is brought the more refined and stronger taste out of an already potent blend. To make sure your preconceptions go no further: this is a great LP. New Order evidently intend to travel a road more akin to Sonic Youth's continuing achievements, rather than that easier, well-trodden path (namely, a dreary, conceited, morbidly bloated decline).
It's an overused description, but this album is, above all, one thing: beautiful. Each track is a crafted work of love, there's a sense that every song has been patiently expanded, extended and explored to produce the shapely sounds you're treated to from start to finish. Jangling acoustics blend with jagged staccato six strings, all pinned down by Hooky's unmistakable fumbles on the bass, and then given that essential smudge by those omnipresent, murky synths. The earnest and yet understated vocal is carried forward by those familiar electronic beats, leaving the whole affair as both a pleasurable reminiscence and yet remarkably contemporary. Perhaps the duality is simply that great pop tunes occupy a timeless space.
Bernard Sumner's lyrics and melodies certainly lean the band towards such a description, but when have New Order not made pop music of a sort? Yet the problem of lyricism does rear its head an unfortunate number of times. The album could become a dictionary definition for optimism, with its chirpy melodies and vibrant keys, but such bland uplift doesn't breed thoughtful lyrical content. Besides, the dictionary would find itself hard-pressed if these tracks had to provide its words, and the New Order thesaurus would be a scanty read. But, to weigh in on the other side of the argument, they almost get away with their innocently simple poetry. To discuss: is 'you had the brightest future, writing songs on your computer' a startlingly bad rhyme, or a Coxon-like simplicity we should just take at face value? There are, however, lyrics even we can't argue for, such as: 'but out there the world is a beautiful place, with mountains, lakes and the human race', courtesy of latest single, 'Krafty'. Yuk.
This quibble aside, however, NO present us with a good handful of songs that would surely make it into any future compilation. 'Dracula's Castle' and 'Guilt is a Useless Emotion' are immediate highlights, perhaps because they retain that same mercurial blend of dance and rock that 'Blue Monday' originally epitomised. This return to 'dance' territory also, however, yields the weakest track, in the form of the entirely forgettable 'Jet Stream'. But ignore the momentary glitch, NO's latest penetrates your defences with its incisive electronic beats, and then slays you softly with its subtler melodies and guitar wranglings. They even take a plunge into other genres, with closer 'Working Overtime' showcasing a far freer, guitar-wielding aspect than hitherto seen, to nothing but fervent effect.
Whether their skill with the English language ends with the album's title we'll leave that up to you. But minor lyrical discrepancies aside, 'Waiting for the Sirens' Call' bears the mark of entirely deserved exclamation, where far too many bands of their status, and even of today, can only muster a pondering, inept question mark.
Artists in this article: New Order
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