They have made one of the best albums of the year

TINDERSTICKS «Mineag Soft» (Cù Lucas/Cù Lúbach)

After 30 years and fifteen albums, there aren’t many artists or bands that I really look forward to new albums from. There is no automation here, but how many number 15 albums in the history of music are considered the best in the catalog of the person who sent it, and where the album is just on paper. ‘ produce a vibration? In any case, we must go to names that are in the land of legend.

Tindersticks is fucking unique. They were the coolest and best band in England in the whole nineties, no matter how many party chemical fireworks some Manchester bros pulled up their noses, and no matter what the a level of bull that these same brothers got away with the alcohol.

Tindersticks, on the other hand, let Britpop be Britpop and grunge be grunge. They had just plodded their way reliably through a series of albums that would have to be compared to Nick Cave to do justice to the competition from the same decade. And he’s Australian.

Nottingham’s magnificent orchestra is also its own sport, so it’s almost useless compared to anything else. They can’t even compare themselves, because they are always changing.

Now they are miles away from where they were when they completely invaded the minds of the unnamed and many others with their stunning debut album and album trilogy, in the period 1993-1997. These discs are still standing like stones. But they are from a musical landscape that has been traveled, forced and abandoned to them.

The first singles have been very promising for what the album was going to be, although you never know Tindersticks. This time – again – the expectations and what is finally served were in line.

“Always a Stranger”, the second single that came, is huge, and a song that with only three steps grinds firmly to careful drums, and some clean electric guitar, before the signature strong cello and some soft winds in the background together. in and out at the end of each verse, like a rather strange chorus, despite the fact that the chord line doesn’t change at all.

And above all: the dead vocals of Stuart Staples. When he often sings “You hold me, you hold me/ My love is in flames and I am always a stranger”, he is completely worthy. It’s so big, beautiful and powerful that every time I listen to the record I find it hard to get over it, because I just want to jump back to the beginning every time it’s over . I don’t want it to be over. I want it to last forever.

The single is basically the most classic and classic Tindersticks song on the album, and in a sense a sensible choice, to please old fans. However, those who love the band in 2024 will know that this is not how they operate.

Instead, they try to hack fearlessly with a machete into a musical wilderness in which they have not moved before, rather than running barefoot on the golf course that is always perfectly cut. The word genius comes to mind the more I think about this band. us need Tindersticks.

This is probably their most depressing record, and on the opening track, “New World” (also available as a bonus track, in a shorter version for radio), they sound more American than they ever were. If someone had said there was a new band on the neosoul label Daptone, I would have believed them, until Stuart Staples started singing.

The song is very good. Father himself drags the band with him towards each chorus, where he whispers in his own, quiet way “I won’t let my love be my weakness!”, along with Gina Foster. The voices come together perfectly and it sounds really kicky.

He has always loved women, the best Stewart Staples. Despite being the band’s strongest and most important signature. He could still call himself Tindersticks without his friends on the team, but they couldn’t do it without him.

Despite this, he has put his name on the charts when he has worked alone. From the beginning, he has always had different ladies accompany the songs, and give them the necessary break and mix.

Sometimes as pure duets, such as “Travelling Light” (with Carla Torgerson from The Walkabouts), “Buried Bones” (with Ann Magnuson from Bongwater), “A Marriage Made in Heaven” (with Isabella Rossellini), ” Sometimes it Hurt” (with Lhasa de Sela), “Peanuts” (with Mary Margaret O’Hara) and several others.

At other times he has used special chords with a touch of gospel to build the songs, for example in one of the strongest songs of the last decade, “We are a dream” (where Jehnny Beth from Savages brings out geese).

Here is the already mentioned Gina Foster (most famous from Swing Out Sister, but also on the albums of, among others, Eric Clapton and Sinead O’Connor) who enriches the songs with the tracks she has a voice.

After listening to the album a very high number of times in two weeks, I hardly managed to listen to anything else, most of the songs have kept up and started the process of growth, as has almost always been the case with this group. . The first four, five rounds showed a strong record. Since then it has only grown and grown. And it will continue to do so.

A song like “Nancy” (with the cute rhyme “Nancy, Nancy answer me”) is a good example, because it disappeared after the first round, and now it is stuck with a double anchor. Like “Don’t Walk, Run”, an almost danceable soul song, again with something funny in the background.

The album also sounds good alive and more forced down than I had guessed beforehand. There is good news for those lucky enough to see them live in Oslo next week. So far, they just feel like one of the most important bands in the world to see live, as this record is made for.

Unfortunately, it has been a long time since the last of the autographs saw them on stage. This must be the perfect time to resume the pursuit of ancient, yet innovative, magic. Anyway, I’m already looking forward to the sixteenth album from one of the best and most unique bands we have today. Already – easily – one of the best albums of the year.