Loving... 'The Eve Of Invasion' by The Narrows

I am forever indebted to the person... whose name I unfortunately can’t remember... that retweeted about The Narrows’ new album ’the Eve of Invasion’. Not only did they turn me on to the wonderful artwork of Tom Langfield (see previous post)... they also turned me on to some seriously wonderful and utterly delightful tunes.

The Narrows are a band from Manchester who playing a deliciously unique form of progressive (small ’p’) electro rock music that effortlessly blends guitars... both chunky and wailing electric, and subtle acoustic... with future-proof synths and expressive electronics... intelligent and vibrant lyrics... and a tremendously powerful rhythm section.

At times I think ’Muse’... at other times I think Yoshi-era ’Flaming Lips’... and again sometimes I think ’Radiohead’ but not one of these comparisons fully get the overall power and oooomph of this album. It is what it is... and delightfully so.

This is an album that warrants repeated listens... it's not something you get all of in one sitting... it needs to infuse within you... to grow and become part of you. There is too much to take in... so much going on in each track... theirs is the kind of dense sonic variety that I love in Radiohead... and don't tend to hear too often... but heartily welcome whenever I can.

It would be wrong for me to go through each track individually... because I would prefer you discovered these tracks for yourself... in a time and place most appropriate for you - they work for me on my headphones, on my hi-fi and in my car - but that's me... find time for this album and see for yourself.

I would also recommend you read the lyrics... some seriously special wordplay going on in these tracks ... a wordplay that is a delight due to it’s expressiveness and lack of overt explanation. The songs made me think and I welcome that. Take this line from ’we invent enemies’... which is possibly the stand-out track for me:

“did no one listen to Eisenhower about the disastrous use of misplaced power?”

Wow!

The Narrows are the full package... great music with intelligent lyrics... deep, varied and engaging. I would love to see/hear them live... I think they'd be brilliant in a mid-size venue.

All in... ’the Eve of Invasion’ is a tremendous album that will with no doubt be on my iPhone for a considerable period of time to come. I've embedded the Bandcamp player below to let you have a wee listen.

Tx