Southall’s performance is great, but in the wrong place. It’s a powerhouse climax moment in a song that’s just happy to run through the fields: too much bombast where it’s not necessarily needed. So when that big boisterous guest vocal comes in, it’s just too heavy-handed for the gentle joie de vivre of the song it’s in. This is despite being another piano-guided song and James’ guitar largely remains as a textural element in the background – but on the album that seems them generally embrace the ivory keys, it fits into the wider continuum and as the album has shifted towards its latter half, a breeze of joy and uninhibited melodic prettiness isn’t too far fetched anymore. The difference here (and I say this as one of the few defenders of “I Think I Found It”) is that the way this mood is conveyed here makes it a much more natural fit to the world of the Manics. But this has just as much common with actual Manics songs of the recent past which have tried run loose and with a full-hearted smile: think “I Think I Found It” or the most immediate moments of Resistance Is Futile. When Manics are on this kind of easygoing, jubilantly freespirited mode my first thought is always to refer back to The Great Western, James’ first solo album which has in deep secrecy become the foundation of so much of more contemporary Manics over a decade after Bradfield so sheepishly released it – the flourishes of melodies, the lightfooted spring in its step and even the layered vocals all feel like part of that same DNA. But that comparison only serves to highlight the dominance the vocals have on this song, and it honestly bites “Into the Waves of Love” a little.īecause “Into the Waves of Love” is a delicate song – I mean just look at that title, quite possibly the most blissfully twee thing Nicky Wire has ever written down (married to another lyric about his personal loss of direction, of course). Many have noted the similarities in the tone of the vocals with Pink Floyd‘s “The Great Gig in the Sky”, another song similarly fuelled by the powerhouse guest vocals – though in this case, we only spend around 30 seconds in a three minute song with them. It’s really hard not to mention “Into the Waves of Love” and then not instantly talk about the powerhouse vocal performance from Cat Southall that appears without warning or foreshadowing and then disappears just as abruptly, but which leaves a lasting impression. ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ is available on standard and deluxe CD, and vinyl.So, yeah, about that gospel vocal solo – and yes it’s very appropriate to call a vocal performance a solo in this situation. ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ is a brave move from the Welsh rockers and, while longtime fans might be thrown-off by their venture into pop territory, it’s a risk that pays off three decades into their career. The Secret He Had Missed – a duet with Sunflower Bean’s Julia Cumming – addresses personal regrets: ‘If only we could meet again / We could find a different end’. Single Orwellian, the most commercial track in the set, examines modern society through the lens of nostalgia, while Into The Waves of Love masks themes of angst and anxiety with radio-friendly, adult contemporary guitar and piano. Time is a central theme throughout ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’, juxtaposing real life struggles with classic, melancholic pop music in the vein of ABBA and The Carpenters. It’s as much a reference to the group’s storied history as it is their recent experiences.Įerie opener Still Snowing In Sapporo looks to the group’s early-’90s tour of Japan and a time when it was ‘the four of us against the world’ – recalling guitarist Richey Edwards, who has been missing since 1995. ‘I had a very bad dream / The lead actor in it was me’ sings James Dean Bradfield on the aptly-titled Quest for Ancient Colour one of many tracks about overcoming adversity and longing for days gone by. In the time between 2018 LP ‘Resistance is Futile’ and the onset of Covid-19, songwriter Nicky Wire lost both his mother and father to cancer – the grief of which is felt throughout the collection. The group’s first album in three years marks a sonic shift, influenced not only by the current global climate, but also the personal experiences of the band. Manic Street Preachers look back to a world gone by with their latest offering ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’.
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