A New Athens

Album review

While the Cool Britannia scene's heavyweights Blur, Oasis, and Pulp have split, and fellow mid-table outfits such as Shed Seven, Cast, and Dodgy have only recently re-formed after a decade away, London quartet the Bluetones, alongside Ocean Colour Scene, remain the only act from the original wave of mid-'90s Brit-pop to have stuck together and continually recorded in the subsequent and admittedly rather less successful decade. Four years after their last self-titled LP, and two years after frontman Mark Morriss' solo debut, the Bluetones return with their sixth studio album, A New Athens, which shows that although their chart-topping days of 1996's Expecting to Fly might be long behind them, their ability to craft simple but beguiling melodies hasn't. Opening track "The Notes Between the Notes Between the Notes," which starts with a snatch of intriguing Air-esque minimal electro and a repeated refrain of "be different like everyone else" before merging into the kind of psychedelic art rock favored by the Flaming Lips, suggests that the band has truly abandoned its trademark jangly guitar pop sound. But this brave and rather out-of-character experimental effort is merely a red herring, as among the remaining ten tracks, most serve up a similar style of breezy and gentle acoustic indie that made the likes of "Slight Return" and "Marblehead Johnson" such radio staples. Channeling the lilting dream pop of the much underrated the Sundays, the gorgeous "Firefly" is perhaps their most immediate and radio-friendly offering since their '90s heyday; the banjo-led "Golden Soul," which reveals some previously hidden folkier leanings, echoes the timeless harmonies of Simon & Garfunkel; and "The Day That Never Was" is a convincing stab at brooding gothic blues, thanks to its inspired use of Hammond organs and Ennio Morricone-inspired twanging guitars. But A New Athens is less successful when it beefs up the guitars on songs like "Half the Size of Nothing," which features a rather bombastic prog rock solo from Adam Devlin, and the derivative title track, which unfortunately recalls the muddy indie-landfill of forgotten previous contemporaries Northern Uproar, both of which drown out Morriss' softly spoken tender vocals, while closing track "Pranchestontelle," a scathing attack on the exploits of former Ordinary Boys frontman Preston and ex-wife Chantelle, is a chaotically misguided attempt at Decemberists-style chamber rock. While it's admirable that the Bluetones aren't afraid to stray outside their comfort zone 16 years into their career, A New Athens becomes a joy to listen to only when they embrace their more natural laid-back and melodic leanings.

© Jon O'Brien /TiVo