The Silent Ballet review:
Spokes, so says their myspace, reside in the north of England and make music “mainly as a way
of keeping warm.” On listening to their debut album, People Like People Like You, it’s clear
that their sumptuous mix of post-rock, folk, and slow-core is going to be responsible for
warming more than a few cockles itself, as it somehow evokes the feeling of sitting in front
of a roaring log fire in a cabin located in the midst of a snow-bound forest.
Opener "We Like To Dance And Steal Things" neatly encapsulates the feeling of cautious
optimism that pervades the album, beginning with a tender guitar melody and joined quickly by
simple drums and a lovely violin figure which gently unfurls like the first flower of spring,
shedding snow and poking its head through the slowly thawing earth to reach the bright, pale
sunlight outside. When the music picks up and begins to race towards the finish line, it
feels like a small victory has been won against the cruelty of winter. "Young People! All
Together" begins in a similarly downbeat fashion but soon picks up thumping propulsion to
bring to mind any number of Canadian orchestral-indie contemporaries, and adds the unexpected delight of genuinely soaring vocals before breaking down into a wash of reverb and feedback that manages to sound like a beautiful and haunting conclusion rather than an extraneously noisy and intrusive addition. While the three all-too-brief minutes of joyous instrumental"Scatter: I Miss You" are a wonderful display for the utterly gorgeous violin playing thatthreads throughout Spokes’ songs, "Precursor" shows Elbow how sad-eyed and weary reallyshould be done, with a desolate, lonely vocal giving way to heartbreaking wordless harmoniesand eventually a passionate, swelling instrumental section that’s sure to have people brushing the tears away.
of keeping warm.” On listening to their debut album, People Like People Like You, it’s clear
that their sumptuous mix of post-rock, folk, and slow-core is going to be responsible for
warming more than a few cockles itself, as it somehow evokes the feeling of sitting in front
of a roaring log fire in a cabin located in the midst of a snow-bound forest.
Opener "We Like To Dance And Steal Things" neatly encapsulates the feeling of cautious
optimism that pervades the album, beginning with a tender guitar melody and joined quickly by
simple drums and a lovely violin figure which gently unfurls like the first flower of spring,
shedding snow and poking its head through the slowly thawing earth to reach the bright, pale
sunlight outside. When the music picks up and begins to race towards the finish line, it
feels like a small victory has been won against the cruelty of winter. "Young People! All
Together" begins in a similarly downbeat fashion but soon picks up thumping propulsion to
bring to mind any number of Canadian orchestral-indie contemporaries, and adds the unexpected delight of genuinely soaring vocals before breaking down into a wash of reverb and feedback that manages to sound like a beautiful and haunting conclusion rather than an extraneously noisy and intrusive addition. While the three all-too-brief minutes of joyous instrumental"Scatter: I Miss You" are a wonderful display for the utterly gorgeous violin playing thatthreads throughout Spokes’ songs, "Precursor" shows Elbow how sad-eyed and weary reallyshould be done, with a desolate, lonely vocal giving way to heartbreaking wordless harmoniesand eventually a passionate, swelling instrumental section that’s sure to have people brushing the tears away.
A testament to the quality of People Like People Like You is that it could easily sit nestled
amongst the better releases of one of the finer Canadian independent labels without fear of
shame nor reproach. Spokes have crafted a genuinely lovely album that suits the brittle
winter mornings as well as the scarf and mittens your mother used to make you wear as a
child, and in doing so, have produced one of the finest releases of 2008 so far.
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Tracklisting:
o1. We Like To Dance And Steal Things (03:42)
o2. Young People All Together (07:29)
o3. Scatter : I Miss You (02:56)
o4. Precursor (05:23)
o5. Sometimes Words Are Too Slow (09:53)
o6. End Credits / Love Letter (07:41)
Download
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