Debut album of 23-year-old UK artist Oliver Spalding. As with his debut EP Unfurl (2017), the album was written and recorded with producer Ed Tullett (Novo Amor).
Built around Spaldings staggeringly beautiful voice, the record is full of melodic, immediate songwriting and arresting electronic production.
Asked about his choice of title, Spalding explains, To be melancholy all year round is to suffer from Novemberism. And indeed, these 11 tracks are woven together with a common thread of heavyheartedness. Even the more upbeat songs, like title track Novemberism and Bow Creek, which drive and glisten with intoxicating pop hooks and 80s era synths, recall the darker undercurrents of classic New Order.
Says Spalding, The album focuses on a certain period of time in my life and the things that happened around me. My honesty in songwriting is key. The aim of this album was to be raw and emotional. Emotions are scary and no one wants to face them, and thats what I wanted the album to feel like - something that is uncomfortable but also beautifully revealing.
Synthesizers feature heavily across the record, including single Bow Creek, where iridescent synth stabs and lush strings wash over a hazy, late-night London. Im a huge Roxy Music fan, says Spalding, I love Brian Ferrys work and take inspiration from the Prophet synth sounds on the 80s Bruce Springsteen records.
Opener AthamÈ explodes the record into life with a barrage of saxophone and cymbals, before settling down to Xanaxs addictive delayed guitar lines and Spaldings world-weary vocals. The slow, dark R&B simmer of Her Crescent reflects in the dark, ethereal pool of Bjˆrk-influenced soundscape Emissive, and the quietude of the delicate, piano-led heartbreaker Golden gives room to breathe after the gloomy electronic cacophony of AIBM. Elsewhere in the album, Unreal sees Spaldings gossamer, spine-tingling falsetto soar to the heavens, and epic power ballad Everglades lifts Spaldings voice to its towering, affecting peak, bringing the album to a close with a shudder of thundering drums.
1. AthameÃÅ 2. Xanax 3. Her Crescent 4. Novemberism 5. Unreal 6. A Stop 7. Emissive 8. AIBM 9. Golden 10. Bow Creek 11. Everglades
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- Genre: Rock
- Format: Vinyl
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