I've enjoyed Jane Weaver's music since stumbling across her performance on Marc Riley's All Shook Up show a few years back, and have seen her headlining a couple of times, as well as supporting Public Service Broadcasting. I bought this when it came out, looking for some light during the pandemic months. I've already reviewed her 2014 album The Silver Globe and given it the coveted five star rating, let's see how this one stacks up.
First impression is that it's much more poppy than previous offerings, but it hasn't lost the prog / spacerock / electronica feel that made Silver Globe so memorable. So while this doesn't make it a disappointment, this album doesn't push my buttons in quite the same way Silver Globe did. It kicks off with two tracks which gained a lot of airplay on BBC 6Music at the time. Heartflow has a relentless opening intro, before Weaver's voice kicks in, gentle and ethereal, yet not overwhelmed by a powerful accompaniment, and The Revolution Of Super Visions (intro reminiscent of Hot Chocolate's Everyone's A Winner) bounces along with a pretty cool synth beat. It's followed by Stages Of Phase, a rocking little number with a very Tame Impala feel, and a great tune. Lux is a short ambient instrumental link into the electrobeat Modern Reputation, an infectious earworm of a sound, but in a good way. Title track Flock starts slowly, and while it livens up when the song gets going, it never feels like it's going anywhere, unlike Sunset Dreams, a fully formed catchy number, with an unforgettable guitar (?) riff between every line.
All The Things You Do is minimal, gentle and pleasant, without really exciting, but there's a couple of bangers to finish in Pyramid Scheme, a funky little number, with a great feel and Solarised, a fitting climax to the album, a bouncy song swathed in layers of synth blanketing, sounding just fantastic.
So, as stated, while this doesn't quite move me in the way that earlier albums did, it's still a fine collection of songs, worth forty-odd minutes of anyone's time.
Jane Weaver ought to be a huge, huge star - that she isn't shows how shallow the music biz is.
4* - a great collection of songs, beautifully crafted.
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