The Mouth - Lost and Lonely

After a small gap The Mouth have returned with a taster of things to come. And if this is just the taster then the world better make way for a new set of heroes.

Despite my bias, there is something special about The Mouth which i am unable to put my finger on. Every listen fills me with a sort of smokey-urban hope as the enigma of their sound radiates and drips into the atmosphere like the unexplainable feeling of happiness which fills your soul when you know something is so special, so real, so heartfelt and yet so untouched!

"Lost and Lonely" bleeds a sound that can only be hailed as spiritual and invulnerable, simply impervious to any attack as a chorus of chant-like perfection kicks in before the bridge of "the tender themes" and the washing of souls in the urban water of London's undiscovered rock stars.

(PICTURE - Dingy sorroudings are branded by The Mouth and light shines through)

Conor Oberst - The self titled master piece.

Conor Oberst, the troubled soul who gave us Bright Eyes, has once again returned from the bottom of his whiskey bottle with a new producer and an eclectic country branded group of friends - The Mystic Valley Band.

Followers of Bright Eyes will know that Mr Oberst is capable of churning out songs without even barely thinking. His current library boasts countless minimal country tales, duet ballads of lyrical perfection and depressive monologues depicting the mindset of a weary love seeking soul, and now, without fail, Oberst has produced yet another album of top-notch quality with high calibre song writing.

Throughout the record there are sprinklings of his pessimistic and unhealthily depressive ethos. “I don’t want to die (in the hospital)” is rife with such ill penned vocals of the cold grasp of death in an even colder and artificially crafted environment. But such songs can appear misleading. The upbeat tempo of this urban-country ballad is a smiley cover-up for the suicidal and seemingly cathartic ramblings of a tortured individual who is scared of death and even more scared of dying under the watchful eye of doctors and nurses.

“NYC -Gone, Gone” is a short, sharp shot of distortion with a foot stomping tempo, while “Milk Thistle” switches up the melody into a pool of chord plucking warmth which hugs you like a past Bright Eyes anthem. Graceful like an urban Townes Van Zandt and ruthless like the dispirited fables of Leonard Cohen, Oberst exasperates his range in music making to an untouchable potential that stretches from an ear to ear grin to the deleterious scriptures of a manic depressive.

NOAH AND THE wHALE - Brighton great escape festival

The Great Escape Festival in Brighton is home to a number of great bands, it is also home to a number of bands who should probably not only not be a part of the line but should quit all together, but thankfully the urban-folk tales of Noah and the Whale do not fall into the latter category.

If there is warmth in a voice then Noah and the Whale are the central heating of bands. A lovable romanticism which may seem a little old fashioned is present voice of Noah and his odd looking instrument wielding band members.

It appears that not all the hope in the world is lost. Songs like “Two bodies and one heart” and “Five years time” are rife with a longing to be loved, remembered and to feel belonged. And perhaps more importantly, amidst the tweak of the ukulele and five person harmonies that love is lurking, and it is real.