Gomez - A New Tide
Posted by: JWM on 01 April 2009
Arrived this morning in CD format. Listened to it twice straight off.
First time was like that first pint of fine foaming real ale, goes down quite quickly, is refreshing, but essentially is to bat-in the taste buds. The second time was like the second pint, more deliberate, more savouring, more thinking about the flavours and nuances.
I really like 'A New Tide'. I'm not sure those pre-release press notices got it quite right when they said things like "a return to the band's more experimental roots".
No, to me this is much more like 'mature' Gomez, Gomez with a new sense of self-confidence and self-assuredness that comes with years. 'Return to experimental roots' sounds like a 'going back' somehow, yet this isn't a going back at all, it is very clearly 'this is where Gomez are, here and now'.
Part of the new sense of self-confidence and self-assuredness that I pick up in 'A New Tide' is the band having the realisation of where they fit-in. After the heights of Mercury with their debut 'Bring It On', riding the wave for the difficult second 'Liquid Skin' and coming up with something quite different in the third, 'In Our Gun', they tried to be a bit more pop-accessible with their last two albums (for a Sony house label), 'Split the Difference' and 'How we Operate', both of which were unsatisfactory in parts because of. 'A New Tide', on an independent indie label, is Gomez comfortable in their own skin.
And to my ears, this is the best recorded album since the Hut label days. Can't wait for the vinyl to arrive. Can't wait for my CDS2 to be given the once-over by Sheila.
James
First time was like that first pint of fine foaming real ale, goes down quite quickly, is refreshing, but essentially is to bat-in the taste buds. The second time was like the second pint, more deliberate, more savouring, more thinking about the flavours and nuances.
I really like 'A New Tide'. I'm not sure those pre-release press notices got it quite right when they said things like "a return to the band's more experimental roots".
No, to me this is much more like 'mature' Gomez, Gomez with a new sense of self-confidence and self-assuredness that comes with years. 'Return to experimental roots' sounds like a 'going back' somehow, yet this isn't a going back at all, it is very clearly 'this is where Gomez are, here and now'.
Part of the new sense of self-confidence and self-assuredness that I pick up in 'A New Tide' is the band having the realisation of where they fit-in. After the heights of Mercury with their debut 'Bring It On', riding the wave for the difficult second 'Liquid Skin' and coming up with something quite different in the third, 'In Our Gun', they tried to be a bit more pop-accessible with their last two albums (for a Sony house label), 'Split the Difference' and 'How we Operate', both of which were unsatisfactory in parts because of. 'A New Tide', on an independent indie label, is Gomez comfortable in their own skin.
And to my ears, this is the best recorded album since the Hut label days. Can't wait for the vinyl to arrive. Can't wait for my CDS2 to be given the once-over by Sheila.
James