oddly, it's 2.30am and i'm not particularly tired. done as much work as i had to do, and now just waiting for tomorrow knowing i have so much left to finish. but it will be fine, as always.
happily, the new travis and wilco albums have been fantastic company. both really are characterized by a return to simpler material which nonetheless speak volumes. the new travis sounds much more upbeat than the previous one, and consequently much better, proving once and for all that travis is not U2 and has nothing to do with the activism. what they excel at are little tunes about things like love and loss and the small things which make life interesting. i find myself inevitably comparing travis with coldplay, the latter of which is very much the progeny of the former (as acknowledged by chris martin himself). coldplay started off with an album that is very similar in concern and lyrical sensibility as travis at that time ("invisible band"), but the style of music was always different. then both bands got caught up in the idea of larger concerns and ran with that, but with dramatically different results. coldplay put out "a rush of blood to the head" and travis had "12 memories".
the difference to me really is that fran healy's voice doesn't ever get to the level of raw energy and passion which chris martin's voice has, and honestly never really aspires to. healy's voice has a delicate quality which martin seems to have abandoned (you can hear it in "parachutes" much more than in "x&y", and it's so obvious live), and this new album really capitalizes on that. there's really something for everyone in this album. "selfish jean" is such a wonderful throwback to "U16 girls" and songs like "closer" and "big chair" sounds exactly like what you would expect from their "the man who" days after taking away most of the oasis influences. my favourite of the lot is "my eyes", which to me sounds like all the good parts of "writing to reach you" together with that of "safe", but with a broader sound which seems to have benefited from their musical experimentation from "12 memories". all in all, the album is just so polished and, for the lack of a better word, sweet. travis the way i like them.
the new wilco, being even newer, i have less specific opinions about. all i know is that it reminds me of their older material (which is pretty well-trodden ground in terms of reviews of this album), but oddly enough the earlier work of the jayhawks. tweedy even sounding a little like gary louris (okay, just a little). i've heard quite a bit of this material last november at their chicago concert, and it's refreshing to hear that much of it was put on the album intact. after the heavily-produced "a ghost is born", the new album has a degree of awkwardness which pervades even the lyrics and the music, but nevertheless seems to enhance it in a way only heartfelt records can. while returning to the style of older wilco material (i think it is closest to "summerteeth"), the band retains all the additional musical talent they picked up when nels cline and pat sansone came on board. much has been made about the fact that this album is a true collaborative effort by the band, and not just them playing what is essentially tweedy's songs, and that shows in the reduced reliance on a given melody, but a more layered sound. still more to be taken away from this album, but all in due time.
alright, that has exhausted me, which is good, because it's time to go to bed.
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