Phonology

    Malcolm Middleton is obsessed with bears. His new album, Into The Woods, redolent with delicate arrangements and sonically adept, just keeps coming back to bears. It's no teddy bear's picnic though.

    An accomplished lyricist with conversational delivery and self deprecating humour, Malcolm Middleton has produced an album full of surprises. If you're put off by regionally accented vocals, don't discount this album as on repeated listening the strength of the songwriting breaks through.
 
    Despite the self absorbed melancholia of many of the songs, Middleton has his tongue in his cheek. The opening track Break My Heart proclaims I don't want to sing these shit songs anymore. There's a hint of Aztec Camera, a fiercely Scottish Roddy Frame in Devastation.

    But it doesn't stop there. Distorted noise and pop electronica add to the layers of sound and keep challenging the listener's expectations of what this album's all about. At times there are are so many twists that you think Middleton's tied himself in knots, but the songs and lyrics are distinctive enough to hold it all together.

    A collaborative work with a wealth of Scottish talent Into The Woods has contributions from members of the Delgados, Mogwai, The Reindeer Section and Aidan Moffat, also of Arab Strap.

    Having stated that this is a more positive album for him, the lyrics are uniformly bleak. Mentions of being knifed for Christmas (Burst Noel) and realising I hate myself (A Happy Medium) are cynically delivered on a cushion of soothing sound. Often funny because it's true, and riddled with puns, he wears it well.

    What are the bears all about? Maybe he just wants a cuddle.


Brought to you in association with the reservoir.