Talk
Reset Start Again
****
This
debut Lp from Shrewsbury’s Talk has been a long-time coming.
2005’s EP offering BYP/CTRL was a revelation suggesting
a band that could be big news…and then nothing, apart
from one single last year, the excitement went a little limp.
Whilst Reset Start Again doesn’t make me burn with excitement,
it is a reassuringly excellent debut long-player which at least
delivers more of the same.
The bands step into mainstream consciousness is likely to be
marred by comparisons to Radiohead which, no matter how justified,
do sell Talk a little short. The whole affair may be built on
morose Kid A inspired electronics and the anthemic, surging
guitar-stylings of The Bends but this album is a collection
of meticulously moulded sound-scapes that shine with their own
light.
Reset Start Again succeeds in being experimental and harmonious
at the same time and as with previous efforts brilliantly uses
both analogue and digital techniques that, whilst giving the
tracks a ghostly, otherworldly feel, have just enough organic
warmth to be endearing to the average listener.
Much of this warmth comes from the wonderfully ethereal vocal
harmonies, which sound like classic Simon and Garfunkel singing
from beyond the grave.
The fully-formed, exceptionally coherent nature of the album
is both its making and its down-fall - whilst all the pieces
fit into place perfectly, the whole thing plods along at a very
similar pace and is a little one dimensional, there is very
little to distinguish one track from the next, making it hard
to pin-point individual tracks as highlights.
Talk are a band that obviously know what they can do and stick
rigidly within their own musical comfort-zone, for all their
ability as musicians and producers, they have not moved forwards
from their early work. Taking no risks Talk have produced a
record that is shouting out for some diversity and soul, and
is prevented from being a ‘great’ record rather
than a very good one.
All of the albums flaws aside Reset Start Again is a solid,
superbly produced slice of electronic-tinged indie which will
enthral and delight many fans of similar bands. But as part
of Talk’s development, this will not propel them to the
heady-heights of fame their music deserves, in the end it is
unsurprising and predictable when they are capable of so much
more.
by Chris Marks
