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The Silvermine TapesA Tenuous Thread Patterns In Static I believe I may have mentioned in this very paper that the experience of seeing the Silvermine Tapes at the Jade Monkey has been one of the greatest musical highlights of my 2005. Theirs is a sound possessing such force, yet demonstrating such subtlety, to be at once fascinating and affecting. On occasions, I've been unsure whether to dance or cry. It should not surprise me, then, that my hopes for their first full-length album, 'A Tenuous Thread', should be disappointed; how on earth could that magic spell be transferred to such a mundane contraption as the compact disc? That said, the album is good - very good - but whilst it succeeds well in capturing the intricacies and experimentations in the Silvermine Tapes' arsenal, it fails to capture the power, the tribal tour-de-force, of the eight-piece band's core sound. Jeremy 'Max' Mackinnon's guitar, for example, moves through this record at a quiet murmur; on stage, his is the well-worn Marshall stack blasting melodies for miles ahead; and Mike Pulsford's drumming, captured here merely as a series of elaborate and confounding beats, is in fact a high-octane rhythmic explosion to set our hearts on fire. The band's "single", Live By The Sword, even though only half of its live self, is still one of the best guitar instrumentals I've ever heard in my life. Of all the Mogwai-worshipping instrumental discs you may come across, this would have to rank up with the very best offered worldwide. But simply because this band is so good, the record could have been so much more...  |
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