To expect Crows third album ‘Reason Enough’ to follow in a similar vein as the noise-laden ‘Silver Tongues’ (2019) and ‘Beware Believers’ (2022) is to seriously underestimate the leap taken by the four-piece. Let’s be clear from the start. This is not a grower. This will get under your skin immediately. James Cox (vocals), Steve Goddard (guitar), Jith Amarasinghe (bass) and Sam Lister (drums) put their faith in doing things differently for album No. 3, and their reward is a captivating album.
The opening title track begins in familiar territory but patience is a virtue. ‘Reason Enough’ starts with a heavy slow doom laden pace, however just when the listener thinks it is finished, the sucker punch. A guitar riff leads into an upbeat echoey final third, a signpost of what’s to come. Singles ‘Bored’ and ‘Is It Better?’ follow and coming back to back is thrilling. “Is it better to love than live in fear of it?” sings Cox on the latter track. Who would have thought that Crows would have a singalong moment but there it is. In addition both are upbeat and bounce along, the universally applicable questioning themes relevant for all.
‘Vision Of Me’ takes us into more personal territory for Cox. Admitting it has been a difficult year including metal health struggles, ‘Vision of Me’ reflects this beautifully in the lyrics. Brutally honest, the emotion oozes from this track, the instrumentation soaring. What follows takes the listener into political territory with ‘Land of the Rose’. The disdain is spat out from the outset with the vocal delivery, the disappointment and disgust with our political leaders clear. The pounding drum is at the forefront, creating an angst and fury in the soundscape along with a guitar which weaves its spell to add to the tension. The repetition of “goodbye to the land of the rose”, over and over is goose-bumps inducing. “Ashamed, you should go” obviously refers to the Tories in power and thus there is a sense of hope with a change of leadership. ‘Every Day Of Every Year’ will no doubt be a highlight live, its sense of hope and possibility accompanied by a buoyant soundscape while ‘Lie To Me’ takes us back to the intensely personal, the disintegration of a relationship, one of the most complex aspects of the human condition.
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‘Living On My Knees’ contains arguably the standout line on this album”got my neck under your foot now, baby”. Written as if England is a person, its oppression grinding down the individual, the imagery in this track is breathtaking. “Got me dying on my back now, honey.” Thought-provoking and yet crystal clear in its meaning there is a starkness in the language which is beguiling. ‘Silhouettes’ injects a calmer sense but with a key change that is gut wrenching, its echoey guitars and bass creating anxiety-inducing tension. Closing track ‘D-Ghent’ sees the album out with a stream of consciousness “I’ve read the writing on the wall.” It seems only fitting that the fadeout is static fuelled guitar riff, slowly disappearing into the ether.
James Cox has admitted that “if the last album was angrier this one is definitely sadder…” Who am I to disagree with the creators of ‘Reason Enough’? That may be so lyrically but not in the instrumentation I’d argue. The different processes for creating ‘Reason Enough’ included working with Mercury Prize winning producer Andy Savours for the first time and taking themselves away from the usual ah hoc rehearsal routine locally to a church crypt in Stroud to rehearse. Staying together and immersing themselves in the process is a luxury not always afforded to Crows such is the brutal economics of being an artist in the current climate. The result, however, is an album more melodic and yet still very much Crows, full of compelling narratives both intensely personal and politically forthright. The music is captivating and I defy anyone to not, after first listen, immediately press play again on ‘Reason Enough’.
9/10
Words: Julia Mason
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