Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
There is a world into which darkness, the thrill of dusk and the shadows that fall in between is not something to be concerned with, rather it is to be celebrated and allowed to grow strength in the act of consummation; it is knowing that the dark is not only infested by the escaped shadows from the realms of light, it is a place of glory into which dreams can be made; like hearing the words of passengers crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, sometimes you have to Listen To California to appreciate life.
The edge of darkness, of the soundscapes of a distinct generation at play, the feeling of controlled rebellion and rejection of everything that came before it, Listen To California by On Dead Waves is an album that carries the ideas of long walks with flowers in the hair, of free love and harmony but within the indestructible shell of the flowers being carnivorous roses and brutally scarring thorns, free love being a word to the wise and harmony; harmony being the delicious malice and mischievous like tones captured by Polly Scattergood and James Chapman.
The album isn’t set in cruelty, there is no need for the easy alarmed to believe they must run up the white flag of surrender in the face of musical malevolence, it is though a set of songs finely crafted to exemplify the considered and the compassionate; songs that easily sit in the laps of empathy, understanding and the disbelief of shadowy and mysterious incredulity.
Both Polly Scattergood and James Chapman capture the ear with their beautifully sincere tempest, of the storm that you don’t hide away from, instead finding yourself dancing in the moonlight shadow of the flash of summer lightning.
Tracks such as Never Over, California, Alice, the excellent Dead Balloons and the ethereal, Heart-comparable, Jupiter and Winter’s Child carry the album upwards, never slowing down, never fading into the background and yet always allowing the shadows their day to play with mischief in the sun; it is in the shadows that the best ideas take fruit and make their thoughts known, for On Dead Waves, California is not just a place, it is an utopia.
On Dead Waves release Listen To California on May 20th.
Ian D. Hall