It’s been quite a journey for North London trio Some Velvet Morning; from humble beginnings to performing on international stages via film soundtracks and the biggest festivals, this band have charted their own course through the murky waters of the music industry. Picking up a host of plaudits en route, the band’s biggest win is surely the way that their music connects, their atmospheric and melodic sound reaches deep into the listener’s psyche in a way music rarely does. It’s a skill the band have honed over their career and it comes into fruition on their fifth long player, Tell The Summer Hang On. Featuring ten tracks that shimmer with the haze of summer, Some Velvet Morning have produced this year’s standout album.
As befitting a band who’ve been working together for a quarter-of-a-century, Some Velvet Morning don’t feel the need to arrive with guitars blazing and drums pounding, rather Tell The Summer Hang On gets off to an understated start with a haunting piano motif that hangs as if an icicle sparkling in winter sun and heralds the arrival of ‘I Never Knew What Love Could Do’. A low key arrival it might be, but it’s no less powerful for it and it soon bursts into life like the sun appearing on the horizon. It’s a lotus flower opening to reveal different facets of the band’s oeuvre, and it will continue to bloom over the course of ten tracks, it has an organic feel that’s indicative of the whole album and gives the impression it could grow and evolve in any direction. With none of these ten tracks inhabiting the same sonic space, the shifting sands on which this album is built ensures that things never become staid, and like the proverbial rolling stone there’s no danger of gathering moss. It’s an approach that gives the band an exorbitant amount of freedom, and case in point being following track ‘The Architect’. With an ominously tolling bell and cascading guitars it has a distinctly spaghetti western vibe, as if Clint Eastwood would appear at any moment chomping on a cigar, yet it sits next to the effervescent title track quite effortlessly. A song that blinks in bright sunlight, ‘Tell The Summer Hang On’ is powered by the kind of jaunty beat that will have anyone with a pulse tapping their feet, and while it is perfectly feasible to dip in and out of this album and enjoy the songs individually, it’s best consumed whole to appreciate its constant flux and ululation.
Much of this album’s charm comes from the song writing; with four of the ten tracks clocking in at under three minutes (and none breaking the four minute barrier), Some Velvet Morning prove themselves the ultimate editors. They don’t use two notes when one will suffice and the compact nature bestows an instant earworm status on many of these songs. However, don’t mistake this for lack of invention because nothing could be further from the truth. Tell The Summer Hang On is overflowing with neat ideas, but has a lean and athletic aesthetic, and is from here that it gains its potency. There are many themes running through this album, yet it is to season which the title pertains that’s most pertinent; summer is the most bittersweet time, not only of the year but also our lives, like a flame on a match its warmth is gone far too soon, leaving smouldering memories in its wake. Cutting to the quick of human existence, this album encapsulates how we grasp for those moments and the illusion of permanence.
Some Velvet Morning have produced an album not just for the summer months, but for all time.
- Tell The Summer Hang On is available now (from here).
- Official Website
Track List:
- I Never Knew What Love Could Do
- The Architect
- Tell The Summer Hang On
- Holiday
- Courts & Cathedrals
- Happiness
- Before I Met You
- Please Don’t Drown Again
- I Thought That We Were Done
- It’s Later Than We know
