¡Forward Russia!: Life Processes
Friday, 11 Apr 2008 14:35
¡Forward Russia!'s second album hits the shelves on April 14th
Cooking Vinyl, out April 14th.
In a nutshell…
Dark, moody, artificial, whiny
What's it all about?
Leeds four-piece ¡Forward, Russia! return after their much feted debut Give Me a Wall with a bag full of bellowing, cartilage grinding guitars and synth-ed up wailing in the form of Life Processes.
As an example…
"This is the problem: there is no solution" - Welcome to the Moment (The rest of Your Life)
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
There is a chance Life Processes could one of those strange break-through albums, that somehow capture the public imagination.
But on the balance of probabilities, ¡Forward, Russia! would only make it to the Grammys as ushers.
What the others say
"It's brilliant. It's dark, it's edgy and it's weird - what did you expect, really? - but simultaneously subtle, elegant and in places simply beautiful. It's bold, it's inventive, it's exciting and it's every bit as good as Give Me A Wall." - Leeds Music Scene.
So is it any good?
In music there is wheat and chaff. Life Processes, like urination and defecation, falls into the latter category.
There are really three types of good music: things you just like; pop that lives for the moment and means nothing else; and music that takes part in the sonic discourse, answering questions, creating thesis and antithesis and leading us to a final synthesis, revelation, if you will.
Life Processes by ¡Forward, Russia! falls into none of these categories.
Marx wrote in 1855, describing a Chartist meeting in Hyde park: "And what a devil's concert it was: a cacophony of grunting, hissing, whistling, squeaking, snarling, growling, croaking, shrieking, groaning, rattling, howling, gnashing sounds! A music that could drive one mad and move a stone."
Marx was no music journalist, perhaps you could say neither am I, but his description would fare well.
What is the reason for this album? The lyrics tell nothing to me about my life or the human condition, just sixth-form musings about the horror of the world.
Technically fine, but really will anyone listen to this album in 12 months' time? It is all dark and edgy, but it all seems artifice - a deliberate project in emulating 80s synth emo rock, purely for the sake of it.
The twiddly Vampire Weekend bits on Don't Reinvent What You Don't Understand are quite nice. But the wailing and whining destroys any pleasure.
Could someone please tell me what the point of this album is? Comments below
3.9 /10
¡Daniel Barnes!
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