| The band has tried to create a rawer sound this time around and Detroit meets Hove in the garage influence present on many of the tracks. New single 'All the Same', to take a case in point, powers along to chugging, rolling guitar with fantastic effect. 'Cedars'; a dark strand runs through it. To be found in the oblivion of 'Can't feel a thing' and on starkly shocking number, 'I'd like to hurt you', where Pegg admits to a latent violence ('I wouldn't hurt a fly/but I'd like to punish you'). He is verging upon breakdown by 'It's all too much'; a rage barely suppressed glows from the slowly and precisely delivered vocals. 'How dare you tell me I'm some kind of freak', he sings before a savage chorus of 'Bends' era guitars bursts open. We feel the darkness but it doesn't ever envelop. 'Treat yourself with kindness', is a modern day angst classic upon which Pegg unleashes a sad, wise fury, offering hope to a friend destroying himself with self loathing. The anti-'Creep', if you like. Too idiosyncratic for popular mores, perhaps, if so 'Cedars' and Clearlake will have to remain our special little secret. |
