Sons of Noel & Adrian

Darker than Nick Cave’s grandma’s living room, the improbably christened Sons Of Noel & Adrian (Jacob Richardson and Tom Cowan accompanied by associates from the ranks of Lightspeed Champion, The Leisure Society and Hope of The States) must surely be fledglings of a new absurdist movement in English new folk.

There are moments of wonder that effervesce through the sheet of musical gloom that covers this record, like the three minutes of Sufjan-esque cascading guitars, strings and flutes that open ‘Damien’. That the only lyric in the first five minutes of this nine-minute epic consists of the phrase “Damien, Damien you’re blind in both your eyes” is, however, perhaps as telling as the black paper sleeve the CD is presented in. But, notwithstanding the state of anguish the songs here initially invoke, there is some comedic value to all this sinister foreboding. ‘Comedic’ is not a word I initially thought I’d be using in this review, but quite honestly, the album, truly one of the most harrowingly miserable records I’ve ever heard, was so misery-inducing that I found myself chuckling involuntarily and wondering how on earth I was going to review the beast.

So, really not my favourite album of 2009 and not one that I’m likely to pull off the shelf ever again, but there is, of course, innate value in all art... somewhere. You might have to look hard, but it’s there. So let’s be fair: truthfully, there are moments on this album that are great, but everything that isn’t great (namely everything that includes singing or words) detracts dramatically from what would, truth told, be a seriously strong instrumental album.