Album reviews: Francois & the Atlas Mountains | Mull Historical Society | Dan Sartain | Classical | Folk | Jazz | World

Our team of critics lend their ears to the latest releases in the music world

POP - reviews by Fiona Shepherd

Francois & the Atlas Mountains: E Volo Love

Domino, £10.99

Rating: ***

For an album which incorporates a Latin palindrome in its lyrics, E Volo Love is an admirably unforced piece of work, though it does walk a fine line between the lovely and gentle and the twee and insipid. This French group’s mellow bilingual pop material nibbles nicely on the ear when infused with the mesmeric rhythmic guitar sound of the North African desert rockers to create an Afro-indie hybrid which is altogether less frantic and more persuasive than the scurrying likes of Vampire Weekend. Elsewhere, frontman Francois Marry’s love for The Pastels manifests itself in the C86 jangle of City Kiss and the fey lassitude of Azrou Tune.

Mull Historical Society: City Awakenings

Xtra Mile Recordings, £11.99

Rating: **

Following two albums of songs inspired by his Mull upbringing recorded using his own name, Colin MacIntyre has resurrected his previous pop moniker for this latest offering which pays homage to Glasgow, London and New York, the three cities he has called home as an adult. It’s not the most auspicious return. MacIntyre has been treading water as a writer for some time and, although City Awakenings proves he can still pen a sufficiently catchy tune, there is nothing here as fizzy and joyous as MHS hit Watching Xanadu, nor anything that gets under the skin like his debut Barcode Bypass. Instead, the breezy but half-baked likes of Must You Get Low and You Can Get Better fall back on pop platitudes, while This Is Not My Heart cannot shake off its dirge-like pace.

Dan Sartain: Too Tough To Live

One Little Indian, £11.99

Rating: ****

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Busy life? People to see, things to do? Not much time left over for chilling out to your favourite tunes? Rockabilly renaissance man Dan Sartain hears your dilemma and has dispatched for your fleeting delectation 13 cuts of prime three-chord punk in just under 19 minutes. Too Tough To Live is the album for those who dig The Ramones but find their songs a bit too meandering and needlessly complicated. Jane Wiedlin of The Go Gos comes along for the ride but gets thrown out of the passenger seat to make way for the nosebleed punk of I Wanna Join The Army, gonzo rock’n’roll of I’m Aware and fabulously petulant F*** Friday, which even manages to squeeze a fuzz guitar solo into its 85-second running time.

CLASSICAL - reviews by Kenneth Walton

Fauré: Cello Sonatas

Hyperion, 12.99

Rating: *****

Here are two big sonatas set in the cool minor key, but given a real roasting in the hands of cellist Alban Gerhardt (with pianist Cecile Licad). Fauré’s music, of course, exudes a lugubrious heat, and it is that alluring combination that defines the magic in this super recording. Both cello sonatas – No 1 in D minor and No 2 in G minor – are rolled out effortlessly and with an abundance of colour. There’s even an opportunity to test out the long-running debate over the tempo of the finale of the later sonata, Gerhardt providing a smarter paced version of the Allegro commodo as a bonus track. Both seem equally convincing. Other short cello works, the delicious Élégie included, pad out this sizeable, and very satisfying, offering.

FOLK - reviews by Jim Gilchrist

Punch Brothers: Who’s Feeling Young Now?

Nonesuch, £12.99

Rating: ***

This latest offering from the supercharged acoustic string band known as the Punch Brothers hits the ground running with its opening Movement and Location, mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile’s anguished vocals riding a torrent of strings and pulsing double bass.

The quintet’s roots may be in bluegrass but their formidable drive and percussive attack – as in the moody title track – come from rock and beyond. These often world-weary and idiosyncratic songs aren’t always memorable, but the accompaniments can spectacularly dramatic, as Gabe Witcher’s sinuous fiddle contrasts with the staccato chatter of Thile’s mandolin and Noam Pikelny’s whirring banjo, as in No Concern of Yours or New York City. Soon or Never is more wistful, while the oddball Patchwork Girlfriend has a vaudeville feel.

Then there’s a weirdly melancholy instrumental interpretation of Radiohead’s Kid A, which could provide a soundtrack for a particularly dark example of German expressionist cinema. Bill Munroe wouldn’t like it.

JAZZ - reviews by Kenny Mathieson

Neil Cowley Trio: The Face of Mount Molehill

Naim Jazz, £12.99

Rating: ***

Neil Cowley’s grounding in pop music (most recently as pianist for Adele) feeds directly into his catchy melodic hooks and the crunching rhythmic surge of the trio, but he has added a couple of new flavours to the mix this time out, in the shape of a string section and guitarist Leo Abraham’s soundscape textures. Those who revel in the pounding, Bad Plus-influenced staccato energy of the trio (with new bassist Rex Horan and drummer Evan Jenkins) will still find plenty in that vein here, and the new directions add a freshness to what was becoming a slightly predictable routine.

It is still a limited exercise if jazz improvisation is what you are after, but it has a proven appeal, although I’m not sure what his fans will make of the curiously spooky Mini-ha-ha, built around a recording of his infant daughter giggling.

WORLD - reviews by Michael Church

Rodrigo y Gabriela: Area 52

Rubyworks, £12.99

Rating: ***

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I still remember the night in 2004 when Rodrigo and Gabriela made their South Bank debut as a support for Salif Keita. Nobody expected much of these young Mexican unknowns, and neither did the organisers, who left them to find their own space amid the main act’s clutter, to do their humble biz at the front of the stage. But they proved to be electrifying. When the Malian superstar Keita came on, trailing his usual clouds of glory, nothing he did could prevent a feeling of anticlimax, because they had been the real stars of the show.

Since then, trading on their virtuoso brilliance, they’ve sold well over a million discs and become superstars in their own right. This disc is a new departure: if Area 51 is that Neverland part of Nevada which the US government says doesn’t exist – it’s used for nuclear tests – Area 52, says Rodrigo, is the corresponding musical unknown, right?

Well, not exactly: what he and his companion have done is team up with the 13-piece Cuban band called C.U.B.A. plus the Swiss pianist Alex Wilson to create a communal sound which, though sometimes exhilarating, does not thrill in the way their unaided efforts do. Scots wishing to check this out can catch them at the O2 Academy in Glasgow on 21 February. If the punters are lucky, they may get an unaccompanied duet as an encore.

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