Albums Of The Year No. 4

This is so tense and exciting, I might explode!

I'm not very good at sacasm in general if you were wondering, anyways:

4. The Duke Spirit- Neptune



They disappeared from my scope between september 2005 and December 2006 until, one day at uni, someone mentioned to me The Duke Spirit were playing the Roadhouse in Manchester the next day. I couldn't believe the band were still going and had to see them live again so went into town and bought a ticket there and then. Then next day I was on the barrier of the Roadhouse watching one of my favourite bands tell us they'd been in america for most of the last 12 months and they'd written some new songs in that time. Which they were going to play there and then.

Thus was the first time I heard such tracks as 'Neptune's Call' and 'Sovereign' (then called Auto Harp). Another 14 months later and the songs were finally released as their second album Neptune. I saw them another 2 or 3 times between that gig and the release of Neptune, being introduced to 'Lassoo' and 'This Ship Was Built To Last' along the way and was getting ever more excited about the new album. And you know what? The wait was bloody worth it. It's a move away from the rawness of 'Cuts Across The Land' and features more instumentation in its use of piano, horns and the aformentioned Auto Harp. Liela Moss' vocals somehow have become stronger than ever before too.

The songs are stull bluesy garage rock, but more refined, focused and a little less noisy. 'Send A Little Love Token' has sharp squalls of feedback throughout its verses though and 'Lassoo' has a fecking awesome scream of wah pedal over its solo. The band still obviously love the noise but can tone it down a bit, with songs like the gloriously cool and mellow 'Wooden Heart' and the epic closer of 'Sovereign'. 'Dog Roses' is a weirdly psychedelic trip into the land of acoustic guitars and steel pipes and 'My Sunken Treasure' sounds like a bar room sing a long mixed with a sea chanty, and more addictive than either of them.

The out and out rock is what The Duke Spirit do best though. 'Into The Fold', 'Neptune's Call' and 'The Step And The Walk' reek with energy and effortless cool from the band. You can't help but be swept up by the power of the songs. You simply can't ignore a single one of the songs here. All of them have their place and all of them are memorable, from the doo doo doo's of 'You Really Wake Up The Love In Me' to the gospel like intro of 'I Do Believe', the album is virtually perfect.

Just not as perfect as the albums coming up.