Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The atmosphere is always right for the moody, for the sound of the noir to hit home and infuse and meld with the mind that hears the beat slightly differently, that hears the audio as a humorous progression and one that is a self contained pulse. The atmosphere is made by such bands as Ma Polaine’s Great Decline and the responses they urge in the feelings of listeners who come their way, whether in large numbers and where the conversation lights up the sky or as a just the gossip that titillates the guardians of Small Town Talk.
Small Town Talk…enormously big hearted and terrific attitude, the whispers of misinterpretation ignored and risen above, for in the world of the often blind small town talk is all they offer and yet Ma Polaine’s Great Decline propose no submission, no quarter given in their aspiration to be the best, regardless if it is in the form of an album so immense it blocks out the sun or in the form of a four track E.P.
It is to the E.P. that the band turn their eyes upon next and whilst the experience might fall a little short of the vastness offered by their debut album in 2015, it is still in terms of the cosmos turning its ear to the sound coming out of the studio, as if the smile of a thousand planets breathes with contentment.
Small Town Talk this E.P. certainly isn’t, not unless somehow places such as New York, Tokyo and London are magnified on the map and are to be seen in reality as mere specks of dust on the face of the Earth. For Small Town Talk is the big noise, the sheer command of authority that makes cities tremble with expectation and anticipation. It is no surprise that the roads underneath the listener’s feet suddenly have lost all their weeds, for the shake of the tail authenticity rides roughshod, but with care, over the pre-conceptions of the ignorant.
Beth Packer, Clinton Hough and Chris Clavo take the listener on a short but memorable journey and in the songs Japanese Knotweed, Waiting For The War, Been Loved Too Much and Harvey, the rhythm and the vocals are entwined in a karmic dance that is so beautiful it makes the sky weep in silent joy.
A very positive E.P. from Ma Polaine’s Great Decline, Small Town Talk is a handsome companion to the music already on offer from the band.
Ian D. Hall