‘Into The Waves Of Love’ channels chiming, ‘Reckoning’-era R.E.M., guitar and piano almost tripping over each other in the early bars and even daring to go back to Rockville at the end of its chorus. Opener ‘Still Snowing In Sapporo’ slowly unlocks a fond memory of Japanese tour in 1993 – “the four of us against the world” – with a taut bass and acoustic interplay nodding affectionately to The Cure, igniting from a reverb-drenched and pared-back introduction. ‘Quest For Ancient Colour’ is sublime, Bradfield’s performance seeming to pull away from the serene backing vocals as he sings of a nostalgic ache for an undefined but easier time. It is also one of numerous moments on this record where Sean Moore’s dexterity and energy as a drummer is prominent. Lyrically, it explores the differing experiences of artistic Welsh siblings Gwen and Augustus John, highlighting their preferred subjects and referencing a transformative event on Tenby beach. ‘The Secret He Had Missed’ is yet another triumphant duet in a remarkable recent run, featuring Julia Cumming from Sunflower Bean and wearing the ABBA influence that can be found on a number of tracks especially proudly. Having spent more time at the piano when crafting his 2020 solo album ‘Even In Exile’, frontman James Dean Bradfield foregrounds that instrument in many of these songs and it serves to open up the band’s sound. ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ is a mutation of several different strands of their musical DNA, evoking some of the melancholic textures of 2004’s unfairly maligned ‘Lifeblood’, the angles of 2014’s ‘Futurology’ and even the luscious Bacharachian harmonies favoured on B-sides from the ‘Everything Must Go’ era.
With bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire’s fondness for regularly articulating and updating the mythology around the band, listeners are only too aware when they’re going for pop-rock with strings, as on 2018’s ‘Resistance Is Futile’, or capturing a “harrowing 45 year old looking in the mirror” for 2013’s ‘Rewind The Film’. Nearly thirty years on from their debut, it is increasingly hard for the Manics to release a record without drawing comparisons to their past. Manic Street Preachers ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ Each year, numerous folk reckon they know what the top spot will be with varying degrees of success.
Blank Diary Entry - Manic Street Preachersġ0.Inevitably, anyone who reads my monthly columns for Clash or scrolls past my turntable shots on Twitter will have a rough idea of what to expect as this list comes to its conclusion. Into the Waves of Love - Manic Street Preachersĩ. Complicated Illusions - Manic Street PreachersĨ. Don't Let the Night Divide Us - Manic Street Preachersħ. Quest for Ancient Colour - Manic Street Preachersĥ. The Secret He Had Missed - Manic Street PreachersĤ. Still Snowing in Sapporo - Manic Street Preachersģ. Musically, 'The Ultra Vivid Lament' is inspired by a formative years record box (ABBA, post-Eno Roxy, the Bunnymen, Fables-era REM, Lodger) though the end result could only be the unique union of James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore, collectively one of the UK's most consistently brilliant rock'n'roll bands for over three decades.ġ. It is both reflection and reaction a record that gazes in isolation across a cluttered room, fogged by often painful memories, to focus on an open window framing a gleaming vista of land melting into sea and endless sky. 'The Ultra Vivid Lament' is the 14th studio album from Manic Street Preachers.
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