The Black Watch just put out a new album and a Best Of compilation recently, releases I largely raved about here, and now John Andrew Frederick and his crew are back with a fine new vinyl EP on Hypnotic Bridge Records. The EP is punchier in spots than parts of the last album, and the sort of thing that bridges smart stuff like those early Auteurs releases with shoegaze stuff. That mix of things shouldn't work but it does. Very well, I might add.
Opener "Crying All The Time" echoes the best singles from Kitchens of Distinction, the vocals here sounding nearly in thrall to the propulsive hook that drives this thing into the heart of the sun, while "One Hundred Million Times Around The Sun" is like Howard Devoto singing an Oasis song. It's epic, man, and the sort of song that hits just the right majestic notes and then ends. Frederick reveals more focus than Noel likely had when he was when writing Be Here Now, with John Andrew hinting just enough at influences via a few well-placed Beatles-y chord changes to draw a listener into the cut. "Much of a Muchness" is lovely and unsettling, neo-psychedelia filtered through a modern sensibility. This is clever pop, the kind of thing that is stately and bright, but not so much that the composer's chops become a distraction. What I mean is, that it rocks too.
This new EP from The Black Watch is out now via Hypnotic Bridge.
More details on The Black Watch via the band's official Facebook page.