Glasvegas : S/T :: Review
The debut album by Scottish band Glasvegas is by no means a small and meager undertaking. Glasvegas have taken equal parts of My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Phil Spector’s wall of sound and have seemingly thrown caution to the wind. In the process, Glasvegas have created a work that is uniquely their own and that reflects a troubled world view with no easy answers or exits.
Album opener, “Flowers and Football Tops” addresses the death of a youth who was kidnapped and murdered by five men. This track is not exactly upbeat, to say the least, although it reminds me a bit of classic U2 with the vocal take and the echoing chorus. Glasvegas shines when it plays to a big sound, and the atmospherics it creates in “It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry” are truly exciting. The band takes basic stories of growing up and turns them into something epic as can be seen in songs such as “Go Square Go” and “Daddy’s Gone.”
Glasvegas have the ability to turn songs from painful laments to those of brooding intensity. It’s rare that a band can take their influences, boil them down to their basic essence and transform them into something new. Glasvegas succeed on this level and should be one to follow.
