Album of the Month (sort of): INTIMISM by Nicky Wire

Since I do not really feel like reviewing anything released this month (PiL's album was merely decent, Neil Young's LP was an archival release and The Hives still suck), we should absolutely talk about the new album by Nicky Wire that came out in July.   

Apparently, Nicky Wire is a different person these days. He is full of love and warmth and simple human happiness. He is not calling Glastonbury a 'shithole' and does not want to convert you to socialism anymore. He has let it all go, and all of a sudden, he has some of this year's best melodies to share. Which, in a somewhat odd twist, he has chosen to release very quietly, back in early July, via Bandcamp. 

To give you an idea of just how strong the songwriting on INTIMISM is, let me point you towards the biggest lyrical line of the album. The said lyric seems clumsy on paper and comes during the chorus of "Keeper of the Flame". It goes like this:

I'm not a socialist anymore
The social bit leaves me cold.

The sense of these words notwithstanding (not entirely truthful, according to the man himself), Nicky Wire makes the line sing. It sounds infectious, anthemic and unapologetically well-written. This is the imperious form that Nicky Wire is in on this album. And I have never even been underwhelmed by I Killed The Zeitgeist, his first solo album from 2006. 

The album features twelve new songs, two of which are tasteful free jazz freak-outs and ten are instant indie-rock classics. The former have titles "Migrane No.1" and "Migraine No.2" and display Nicky's fascination with Ornette Coleman. The latter are somewhat confusing in their consistent brilliance. They sound like a man repressed for years was finally able to exorcise his demons, and said demons turned out to be irresistible pop creations (not unlike what happened to his musical partner James Dean Bradfield in 2006). I do not believe there is any point in talking about individual songs as there are no particular dips in quality. However, the best moments include the lush piano section at the end of "You Wear Your Broken Heart Like A Dress", the soaring, strings-drenched chorus of "A Perfect Place To Grow" and the blissful entirety of "White Musk".

Imagine a full album of songs as good as "Break My Heart Slowly". This is what you get here, only the sound if fuller, the production is more elaborate and the performances contain a lot more oomph and conviction. I hear there is a new Manic Street Preachers album on the way... If this is what we will have to deal with, count me in.

Альбом. "Force of the Wind" (2022) / СОЮЗ.

Момант, дарэчы, унікальны. Упершыню ў жыцці я збіраюся купіць вінілавую кружэлку з беларускай музыкай. Мы падыходзім да адной з фестывальных палатак, і я пытаюся пра гурт з назвай SOYUZ. "Так", кажа прадавец. "Ёсць два выданні іх апошняга альбома. 120 злотых за звычайную кружэлку і 130 за празрыстую". Гэта, канешне, сапраўдны поспех, і самае дзіўнае ў гэтым поспеху тое, што мала хто на радзіме ведае пра іх існаванне. 

Чаго нельга сказаць пра Польшчу. СОЮЗ не проста запрасілі на вядомы фестываль у Катавіцах. Іх песні сустракаюць так, быццам кожны з прысутных добра ведае сонечныя бразільскія мелодыі апошняга альбома гурта. Што датычыцца саміх музыкаў, то паміж песнямі яны дзякуюць па-польску, размаўляюць з аўдыторыяй па-ангельску, а калі пачынаюць іграць, то расейскай мовы амаль не чуваць. Яна і на альбоме мае выключна фармальны характар, а тут яе заглушаюць барабаны і бас. А яшчэ клавішы вакаліста - які, дарэчы, носіць ярка-чырвоную безрукаўку, якая, напэўна, дасталася яму ад яго бабулі.

СОЮЗ - гэта нешта накшталт "супергурта". Раней кожны з трох музыкаў быў часткай іншага беларускага праекта (Applepicker, Young and Dramatic), але вось ужо некалькі гадоў іх аб'ядноўвае даволі сумнеўная назва СОЮЗ. За гэты час з'явілася тры паўнавартасных альбома, апошні з якіх дайшоў нарэшце і да мяне.

Нягледзячы на лірычны восеньскі ліст на вокладцы, Force of the Wind - гэта летні альбом. Па сутнасці, трыццаць хвілін выкшталцоных, ветраных мелодый у лёгкім фолкавым стылі. Альбом гэты сапраўды існуе па-за межамі краін ды нацыянальнасцяў. Гэта вельмі добрая музыка ў цалкам універсальным сэнсе, і калі вы паставіце яе іншаземцу, амерыканцу ці нават партугальцу, то ён так і скажа: гэта выдатны бразільскі фолк. І ў гэтым няма нічога ганебнага: у гурта ёсць свой стыль, і яны ўмеюць ствараць добрыя мелодыі. Чаго ж яшчэ?

Ёсць, канешне, пытанне мовы, але як я ўжо пісаў вышэй, пытанне гэтае не такое істотнае. Бо вакал тут - хутчэй гукавое ўпрыгожванне. Адну з песень ("Como é que vai você" - якая нагадвае па атмасферы "Sun King" The Beatles) выконвае запрошаны бразільска-амерыканскі вакаліст Sessa. Упэўнены, што калі не ўслухоўвацца, то можна і не заўважыць пераходу з расейскай мовы на партугальскую. Увесь альбом вытрыманы ў адным стылі. Як і другі LP гурта, ёсць тут пэўныя элементы джазу ("Beige Days"), але нават джаз тут хутка растае ў вытанчанай сумесі флейт, клавішаў, акустычных гітар і лёгкай аркестроўкі. 

Я ніколі не любіў выкарыстоўваць слова "якасны" ў дачыненні да мастацтва, але ж гучыць альбом сапраўды так - якасна і бездакорна. І за свае дваццаць дзевяць хвілін (што, канешне, крыху набліжае нас да доўгіх EP ці да першых альбомаў The Beach Boys) альбом так і не паспявае надакучыць.

Але вяртаючыся да фестывалю... На самой справе, я хацеў, каб у суботу мы з сябрам выйшлі з гатэля раней. Бо нягледзячы на тое, што да Spiritualized і Slowdive было яшчэ шмат часу, трэба было пабачыць гурт SOYUZ. Яны мусілі пачынаць каля 16:30, і я быў упэўнены, што каля іх сцэны будзе стаяць дзевяць чалавек. Горш за тое, стаяць яны будуць пад дажджом (які так адчайна прагназавалі ўвесь тыдзень). Мне хацелася падтрымаць беларускі гурт, які нечакана трапіў на польскі фестываль у жніўні 2023 года... 

Якім было маё здзіўленне, калі нам цяжка было знайсці месца нават перад пачаткам іх выступу. І якім было маё здзіўленне, калі дождж так ніколі і не пачаўся. 

Spiritualized in Katowice, 05.08

Festival experience tends to be overwhelming (multiple stages, food trucks, weather forecasts), and I believe that it took me some time to realise that Jason Pierce would really be playing later that night. I think that it was only when I got close to the main stage, twenty minutes or so before the start of the concert, that I fully grasped the idea that I would be seeing Spiritualized for the second time in my life. The first time was about ten years ago in Dublin, back when they were playing Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space in its entirety. The world, it seems, was a very different place back then.

Together with Slowdive and King Krule, Spiritualized were the main headliners of this year's Off Festival in Katowice. And while I do have a lot of time for Slowdive and there was a particular Belarusian band I wanted to support (more on them later this month), it really was all about Jason Pierce. That was, essentially, why I was in Upper Silesia on a day that threatened to burst open with rain but never really delivered on its terrible promise. To see Spiritualized, and to remember that wild tingling sensation I experienced years ago, back when I got my very first assignment at Oxford Music Magazine. The assignment was to review a new album by Spiritualized titled Sweet Heart, Sweet Light. The song was "Hey Jane", and it felt life-changing.

This time, in 2023, as they entered the stage and stood in an almost intimate semi-circle, this was the opening salvo that was heard: 'Hey Jane, where are you going today?..' It was a staggering start, one they could not really top. Thankfully, they never let it slide either. With great musicianship, with excellent back-up singers, with Jason Pierce crouched in the corner on a tall stool (trademark arrangement), it was that classic mixture of tasteful space-rock noise ("The Morning After"), anthemic explosions ("I'm Your Man") and absolute heart-wrenching beauty ("Damaged"). The sound felt huge, as did the whole event.

These days, Jason Pierce favours newer material, and I have no problem with that. Later in the night, Slowdive would be playing "Alison", "When The Sun Hits", "Catch The Breeze" and the rest of their storied back catalogue, but the wealth of Spiritualized's recent material is such that it feels only natural for Pierce to explore it and give it a chance to breathe and develop... And all of a sudden, "Here It Comes (The Road) Let's Go" hits you as hard as "Cool Waves" and "Broken Heart". Most of the songs performed at Katowice are taken from the last three albums, with the odd classic ("Shine A Light") thrown in for good measure. Overall, it is lazer guided melodies all around. You are transfixed, and you are blown away.  

And then, after an hour and a half of heartache and explosions, there came the moment. There is always that moment at a great concert, the one that feels different, and unique, and gets into you more than anything else. The moment lasted seven minutes, in fact, and it was Spiritualized doing a phenomenal version of "So Long You Pretty Thing". The sweet, fragile start that threatens to fall apart but keeps you on edge instead. The beautifully melodious and understated middle section. And then, of course, the tears flood your face as you scream that glorious coda at the absolute top of your lungs. It actually took me a couple of weeks to recover from the experience and write this review. 

Polish notes (July '23)

On the way from Krakow to Auschwitz (which will always sound as 'Oswiencim' to my ears), the guide, a big and emotional Polish girl named Katarzyna, keeps asking trivia questions and talking about the economics and the eugenics of it. For the time being, we agree and we play along. After all, no amount of books, articles and films (no, not even my trip to Dachau a few years ago) can prepare me for what I am about to see. Because the scale is... well, there is no word in the English dictionary that could adequately explain the scale. 'Staggering' is nothing, and 'overwhelming' is weak. There is a point, after the stories of blood and guts and vomit scratched away from the floor of the gas chambers before a new group of prisoners is brought to the slaughter, when senses leave you and you look at the familiar trees and the mountains around the camp and you feel this is not just about the Jewish riches and the ethnic cleansing. This goes well beyond that, into the abyss that no one could ever explain, or even begin to make sense of... And the word? Well, perhaps 'unbearable' could do.   

Hučna Fest is now an annual event - a development which is both wonderful and rather tragic. Held between the Vistula and the ever magnificent garden on the roof of the Warsaw Library, it is an event for immigrants. Mostly, it attracted me due to the conversation with Alhierd Bacharevič. Not always eloquent (good writers do not have to be good speakers; as Nabokov once put it, "I think like a genius, write like a master, and speak like a child"), he was nonetheless quite animated this afternoon and read out expressively from his recent autobiography. Still, I come away with a book of poems by Ángela Espinoza Ruiz who signed my copy of her Belarusian poetry with a child's hand and a memorable line. A true poet, then. 

While I can take shopping malls in small doses, Stary Tarasy is the place in Warsaw I absolutely cannot stand. Literally everything about it deprives me of the will to live - the design of its roof, the wandering teens, the smell of Zara home, the inevitable fast food. Everything. And yet this was the place where I ended up watching Oppenheimer. The film is, of course, Chistopher Nolan at his overwhelming best, and a welcome return to form after the boring and impenetrable Tenet. For a short while (well, not too short, as the film lasts a whopping 3 hours), it seemed like I forgot all about the place where I was. And I am not too sure that Barbie would have done that. 

I have long realised that going to Żoliborz is almost like going to a different town. As you get off the tram soon after Warszawa Gdańska, on Adama Mickiewicza street, you find yourself walking through a narrow park towards the Warsaw Citadel. It is a picturesque walk that culminates in an area that lives entirely in its own world. Old Żoliborz is one of the richest places in Warsaw and the part of it which is located between the circular square of Thomas Wilson and the snake-shaped alley of Andrzej Wojciechowski, houses a luxurious private sector with grape-covered balconies and stone sculptures in carved patios. In the summer, the sector looks especially attractive and blinds you with its lush greenery. Local residents can often be found in a Spanish wine bar nearby (WineTu), where they blissfully chill on the midday terrace to the sounds of American jazz and the clinking of Sunday glasses. It is a different Universe, and inevitably, you want some of it. 

Finally, Krasiński Garden has to rank as one of the best parks in Warsaw. With its calm pond and the tasteful facade of the palace, it manages to be both striking a reserved, and steadies my nerves quite effortlessly as I hurry to Bonifraterska street for the wicked and cruel canal treatment.