Light of Words - Those Left behind
 

Photography by Alex Malone and Chris Hudson

Review by Paul Towler

It's hard to believe it's been ten years since the Millennium celebrations - how time flies! Let's hope we're not too bogged down with awful 'best of the noughties' retrospectives adding to the usual glut of 'greatest hits' albums by artists past their prime that hijack the supermarket impulse racks at this time of year.

Here's one pre-Christmas release that yule (geddit?) be glad to find in your stocking as you nurse the hangover haze of Christmas morning. Light Of Words are the latest signing to the newly founded Bristol based label Laser Ghost Recordings, boldly notching up it's third release in as many months.

This Bristol based band elegantly bridge the gap between the structured songwriting of guitar-driven indie and the ambient textures of post-rock. The result is this beautifully crafted yet tragically dark album, "Those Left Behind". Set the compass for "The Lost Riots" by Hope Of The States or sonic experimentalists Mogwai and you'll be getting warm. 

Despite all their darkness and morbid tranquility, Light of Words have far reaching commercial potential. This isn't just an album for clicky undergound revellers and nerdish post-rock boffins. This album has a refreshing modernity that will also appeal to more mainstream tastes - perhaps to fans of Elbow or Radiohead's more ambient output.

Textured albums such as this are usually presented with dreamy vocals of little meaning, but something that absolutely sets Light of Words apart from their contemporaries is singer Chris Dean's amazing gravelly, wavering voice reminiscent of Gomez or Tindersticks. His lyrics have real purpose too - soul-bearing and reflective, something aptly mirrored by the anatomical line-drawings that grace the album's dark cover art. 

Opening with 'Trip Up', sparse rhythmic electronica and soft arpeggio guitars nimbly dance through to a hightened climax of tension. Similarly, 'January' begins with cascading glockenspeils before opening up to heavier tautness.

Whilst maintaining their underground ethos, the anthemic quiet-loud-quiet arousal of potential stadium singalongs such as 'Too Soon' will also appeal to the wider concert going public. The eerie penultimate cut 'One More' begins by steering towards early Warp Records territory, giving a gentle nod to the silky analogue textures of Boards Of Canada and skewed bleepy-techno of Autechre. But suddenly, the music erupts, thrusting remorselessly towards a breathtaking towering drone of guitar before gently cascading down again to the release of innocent gentle chimes.

Finally, the closing track 'Stepping Through Shadows' begins with a haunting e-bow guitar set against the lower-end notes of a lone piano, creating a sparse, spooky atmosphere that lures the listener into a sense of suspended numbness. You think it's the usual instrumental  closer - that's until a brief interjection of vocal cruelly teases your expectations right at the end. Ha! The twists and turns continue to surprise us, even into the dying seconds of this wonderful album. Clever buggers.

If you're put off by the structureless ambiguity often associated with post-rock, then don't let this album pass you by. Riding high from peaks to troughs on a heart-yearning voyage from burning angst to childlike lullabies, "Those Left Behind" is a mournful yet beautiful joyride into the darkest depths of the human soul.