My Latest Novel - When We Were Wolves / Pretty... (Bella Union)
UK release date: 9 October 2006
Incredibly, it's two years since Arcade Fire blew everyone who heard them away. Debut (and so far lone) album Funeral's influence persists across towns, villages and hamlets wherever people, guitars and a fiddles get together. The Canadians' manic vibe has apparently reached Greenock, a nearly-Glasgow kind of place, from which hail My Latest Novel.
This five-piece released their debut album Wolves earlier this year, and instant comparisons with Arcade Fire were much in evidence. Following up the singles Reputation Of Ross Francis and Sister Sneaker Sister Soul, When We Were Wolves suggests the comparison is understandable, if not entirely fair. Yes, there are acoustic guitars, rough-hewn drums, male-female vocals and, inevitably, fiddle. But there's also a change of pace in a song that starts as a tribal holler but then gets dressed up for a lounge moment before coming full circle.
The calmer, more reflective double A side track Pretty In A Panic recalls Arcade Fire's less frenetic moments, but there's a hint of (the sorely missed) Delgadoes here too. My Latest Novel are proof positive that not every acoustic-rooted band from Scotland needs to be a member of the Fence Collective or Belle and Sebastian to create intriguing music.
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