Review: Piano Magic, "The Troubled Sleep of Piano Magic"
Now mutually divorced from 4AD, Piano Magic's talents haven't suffered a bit, in fact, the seperation has provided the opportunity to focus on what made the band so interesting to begin with.
Back to a band project after all the guests on "Writers Without Homes," "Troubled Sleep" is stylistically a proper follow up to "Artist's Rifles." Opener "Saint Marie" is a more-than-convincing Durutti Column homage which shows Johnson's aptitude with a guitar and an echo delay. Angele David-Guillou handles the french-accented girl vocal duties when needed; there is also a fair amount of acoustic guitar, much of it with a slightly spanish flavour in the picking patterns, making Piano Magic an increasingly European sounding project. "The End of a Dark, Tired Year" is propulsed by positively Factory-esque drumming; it's back to the sea on "The Tollboth Martyrs" featuring another musical variation on "A Trick of the Sea". "Speed the Road" is the same version released earlier as a single and still features some of Johnson's uncharacteristic lyrics ("even bad girls sleep tonight") but aside from that, this is a sombre album with a unique melancholy concentrating on the private tortures the mind can inflict on itself in the depths of sleeplessness. "Comets," which closes the album with David-Guillou's refrain "you should always tell them you love them/in case you never see them again" provides Piano Magic's most affecting moment. In summary: perfectly lovely.
Note: The Japanese version of this album substitutes the less interesting "What Does Not Destroy Me" from the Klima split 7" for the amazing track "I Am the Teacher's Son." I don't know why.

Labels: piano magic, reviews