Music Review

03 December 2008 05:09 BST

American Music Club: The Golden Age

Cooking Vinyl, out February 4th 2008.

In a nutshell...

Pure, assured, but still demure.

What's it all about?

The Golden Age is a purist's dream - a selection of tracks with a high level of audio clarity and a corresponding commitment to song structure and lyrical quality. Topics range from loneliness to companionship, along with 'an ode to the World Trade Centre' which manages to avoid languishing in pity as many of its counterparts fail to do so.

Little here could truly be described as groundbreaking, although a number of the tracks do have distinctive characteristics; the very deliberately disjointed structure of On My Way offset against the benevolent restrictions put on the preceding track, I Know That's Not Really You, by its waltzing backing music.

Nonetheless, the selling point of this album is not its political agenda nor its 'innovation' but perhaps the converse - its ability to satisfy a thirst for well produced and fundamentally high-class music.

Who's it by?

American Music Club comprises four members; three take their turns on laying down vocals while the fourth, Vudi, adds guitar, keys and accordion. Mark Eitzel takes lead vocals, along with guitar and keys, although bassist, guitarist and vocalist Sean Hoffman receives top billing on the inlay and a place in the cover art. Percussionist Steve Didelot completes the quartet, adding vocals and guitar duties to his measured drum backing. Long-term fans may know that the line-up is different to in previous years following a move to Los Angeles; the name was also nearly changed to the MacArthur Park Music Club.

As an example…

"As I drove away/Across the dead leaves of your southern town/In the mirror I saw you wave/In the mirror I saw you/As the autumn fell." - The Sleeping Beauty

Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys

The chances are pretty good with this - the band's been around in one form or another since 1982 and counts Radiohead, REM and Coldplay among its fans. Waltzes and songs about the World Trade Centre justify judges' votes, while the quality of the music itself cannot be in doubt.

What the others say

"The Golden Age is blessed with a warmer glow than usual, perhaps because it was recorded in sunny LA. Songs, though, are as impressionistic as ever - rueful narratives couched in a sort of ambient Americana." - John Mulvey, the Times

"Some of the vocal phrasing recalls [Prefab Sprout's] Paddy McAloon at what, for this writer at least, was the pinnacle of his recorded output - solid ground, then, for this comeback of sorts." - Paul Villers, Americana UK

So is it any good?

Need you ask? There can be absolutely no doubt - this is a fantastic album that begs to be heard in surround sound with the volume and bass cranked up while Eitzel's dulcet tones bathe the listener in waves of pure lyrical caramel. That being said, the parallels with Prefab Sprout drawn by Paul Villers in his review are a hint at what could be one of the only criticisms levelled at The Golden Age. A celebration of music at its best, there are moments where both the vocals and the backing track are more reminiscent of 1998 than 2008 with echoes of artists such as Aimee Mann and Eels who, while still respected performers, are perhaps not so much on the wavefront of modern music as once was the case. I don't care though - good music is still good ten years on and this album, I suspect, will still be good come 2018.

10/10

Bob Bardsley