Fiel Garvie - Leave Me Out Of This

Words On Music
(WM13: 656605942926)
Release date: 09/27/2003
Genre: Alternative

$10.20

The second album (and North American debut) by Norwich England's fiercely independent recording artist Fiel Garvie features its latest innovations in the delivery of improbable pop music. On Leave Me Out Of Thisthe quintet fashions a deluge of art-pop confections through eleven new compositions. Slower, sparser material recalls Björk, Sigur Ros, Cranes, and could find a cozy home on the first This Mortal Coil album. More rapid and riotous songs suggest Lush, The Delgados, The Cocteau Twins, and Garbage. The album was mixed by producer Phil Vinall [Pulp, The Auteurs, Elastica].

"B-rock" and "Flake" frame the album as ambient bookends. Each piece is well suited for a David Lynch film, highlighted by Anne's lingering extemporaneous vocal melodies, over a bed of sparse, delicious instrumentation. "I Didn't Say" and "Caught On" provide some of the album's most infectious moments of authentic, unabashed pop. "Got A Reason" and "Talking A Hole In My Head" are enwrapped in a bigger wall of sound, and lean more heavily on Adam's commanding guitarwork and Jude's gliding subterranean bass lines, recalling elements of New Order, Lush, and Wire. "Got A Reason" in particular craftily weaves Greg's driving syncopated snare in and out of the guitar melodies through to the rousing vocals at the chorus. "He Goes, She Goes" evokes the best of mid-day Cocteau Twins through Anne's exquisite, unmatched delivery, the high peels of revolving guitar noise, Greg's orchestral drumming, and the precious drops of mouth-watering backing vocals delivered by Emma. "There You Go" turns like a merry-go-round, buoyed by an intoxicating meter, sunny-day bells, and the looping quality of Adam's guitar lines and the stirring postscript vocals.

Through eleven songs, Leave Me Out Of This weds the innocence of pop with a cunning knowledge of sophisticated musical arrangements at the altar of one of independent music's most extraordinary vocalists. But the delight and wonderment of Anne transcends her voice - what is most remarkable is that her idiosyncratic vocals inconspicuously and organically blend into the perfectly-crafted textural landscapes created by herself and fellow songwriter Adam. The result is a marriage of sound, standpoint, and science that both calms and confronts in a truly unforgettable auditory experience.

1. b-rock (3.27)
2. i didn't say (3.01)
3. got a reason (4.45)
4. doortime (4.21)
5. caught on (4.09)
6. reeling as you come around again (5.33)
7. talking a hole in my head (2.59)
8. he goes, she goes (3.38)
9. there you go (3.41)
10. old friend (5.24)
11. flake (4.13)