bad.squirrel presents...

Subaqwa - "Chalk Circle"

This debut LP from the Birmingham band can't fail to remind you of early REM which in my book is a very good thing. Justin Wiggan's vocals not only sound like Stipe's but he also moves like Stipe on stage and his lyrics are comparably oblique and obscure. Sad, indecipherable tales unfold on each song, the vocals often barely more than a murmur. Unlike REM there are lyrics printed here but you should never read them of course. The word understatement is capitalised and underscored relentlessly here and not since Grandaddy's first LP have I heard it so well delivered.

Slower tracks such as "Ricetones" and "Little Glitches" are hauntingly tangential and complete with sighing cello before spiralling upwards with an intensity of epic proportions on songs like "Cody's Snowy Memo" and the zenithic and almost anthemic "Hotel Silence". In short, these are supremely well written songs, each short but with a sense of balance, the voice perched precariously on the edge of oblivion but never actually falling in. We haven't had a great guitar band for some time but Subaqwa are certainly capable of being that band if their subsequent offerings are as good. The time of reckoning is upon them.

Released on Faith and Hope, 1999 (FTCD009).

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