Harp
Albion

Release Date: 12/01/2023 | Tracklist

I have to admit (confess?) to the fact I (gosh) don’t read reviews all that much these days. The benefit of this is I go into new releases without many if any preconceived notions beyond potentially my existing knowledge of the artist and maybe looking at the ‘much beautiful’ image they’ve selected to represent their art on the cover. The downside to this approach is obvious…sometimes I still like to write reviews and then all too quickly I can come across like an ignorant son of a Took. So this time I went into my first two listens just staring into the middle distance that is that ‘miserable bugger in a faux medieval wonderland’ art and it was only once I was fully smitten I even took the effort to find out that this is the long lost ex vocalist of ‘please don’t call us Mid’ Midlake who’s kicking out the jams.

Then I remembered why I don’t like reading reviews too much; the first three I tried all seemed to regurgitate the same info from the press release and it was pretty funny. In a ‘Chinese Democracy’ fashion our hero huffed out of ‘please don’t call us Mid’ Midlake’s recording sessions and went into some sort of self-imposed ten year exile, split up with his wife (naturally), and then became obsessed with The Cure’s ‘Faith’ for ‘the best part of three years’. Three damn years. This is ‘goth locked in the printer room’ levels of too perfect.

Thankfully all the background guff is mostly unnecessary here because if there’s one album that speaks for itself in 2023 it’s this one. Much of 'Albion' sounds as if dungeon synth music was allowed up into the fresh air once a year, was in awe of all the space and scenery, but soon realised frostbite hurts and winter above ground can feel even lonelier than life without the sun. So it’s a strange combination that music can sound ‘so. painfully. ‘80s.’ but at the same time like a fully signed up mead swillin’, maiden savin’, Mediæval babe. I actually hear the similarly reverby (it’s a word) ambient pop of Mark Renner in here as much as I do The Cure or yes, even the jilted Midlake themselves.

Likely criticisms from some quarters? All the songs sound a bit the same…well all the songs sound excellent. Gottem. You have the more jangly ones like the sun dappled ‘A Fountain’, you have the spidery Radioheadish (it’s a word) ‘Throne of Amber’, you have the almost hymnal ‘Shining Spires’, you have the synth laden warm toned beauty of ‘Herstmonceux’, and on and on. In an alternate universe I was waiting for a late album of the year candidate to rescue me from making a desperate choice but that’s not the case in 2023 - did ‘Albion’ ever look like a shining knight saviour? No, it is Harp’s fate to languish somewhere just behind life’s winners…but deep in my bitter, brown cloaked heart this is my true love of the year.

Tweet

Recent reviews by this author
Pearl Jam Dark Matter	Still House Plants If I don’t make it, I love u
The High Llamas Hey Panda	Adrianne Lenker Bright Future
Devon Welsh Come With Me If You Want to Live	Sam Lee Songdreaming

user ratings (20)

rate it Awful - 1 Very Poor - 1.5 Poor - 2 Average - 2.5 Good - 3 Great - 3.5 Excellent - 4 Superb - 4.5 Classic - 5

3.9 excellent