40 Watt Sun - Perfect Light (Cappio Records) [Paul Scoble]
40 Watt Sun is the project that Warning main man Patrick Walker went on to after the demise of the worlds most melancholy band. Formed in 2009, 40 Watt Sun released their first album, The Inside Room in 2011. The album still has a huge, sad doom sound, that was similar to Warning, but had a softer, more rounded sound, the melancholy woeful feel was still there, but there was some positivity in the lyrics. Five years later 40 Watt Sun released their second album with Wider Than The Sky, and this time there was a sizeable move away from heavy metal, to a sound that was based around a clean guitar, singer songwriter sound. Again the album had an overall feeling sadness and melancholy.
Perfect Light has been made in a different way to 40 Watt Sun’s other albums. The bands two previous albums were made with a band lineup; on Perfect Light, Patrick has worked with guest musicians to write and record. Some of the songs are just guitar and vocals and were recorded by Patrick Walker alone, but on others there were collaborations with Andrew Prestidge and Roland Scriver (The Osiris Club), Ajit Gill (Vertaal), Lorraine Rath (Amber Asylum/Worm Ouroboros), and pianist/composer Chris Redman. As a result this album has more variation to 40 Watt Sun’s other albums, a little bit more light and shade.
As with the last 40 Watt Sun album Wider Than The Sky there is no metal on this album, the closest is a couple of places where there are guitar parts with a small amount of distortion, but it’s more a warm overdrive rather than a heavy distortion. The main style is centred around Walkers acoustic guitar with a little piano and fairly minimalist drums and bass, there are elements of folk (although definitely not jigs), 70’s Singer Songwriter, and maybe a little subtle country. I have seen the style on this album described as ‘Chamber Folk’ which fits quite nicely.
The album opens with Reveal, which features a gentle finger picking acoustic guitar and vocals that are just as gentle. The vocals become a little more fervent, and the music a little bit more purposeful for a chorus that also features backing vocals. The songs final part has a repeated line of “I’m strong enough to lift you up”, which signals a positivity that feels like a new addition to 40 Watt Sun’s palette.
Behind My Eyes continues the gentle finger picking style of guitar, this time with minimalist percussion, the chorus is louder and has more drive to it. In the second half of the song a piano is added, which felt a little bit country in style and helps to build the track as reaches its end. Overall the music and lyrics feel contented, which builds on the positivity of the previous track.
Third song Until sounds and feels most like the style on 40 Watt Sun’s last album, Wider Than The Sky. The guitar is strummed and feels taut, Walker’s voice has a little more angst than on the previous 2 songs. The song boasts a fairly big and passionate chorus, a melody lead with some warm overdrive on it, and that one and only overdriven riff that takes the song to its end. Next comes Colours, which is very soft, classical style guitar, matched with soft vocals in a way that reminds me of some of Leonard Cohen. The second half of the song has an instrumental classical guitar part that is just exquisite.
The Spaces In Between has a simple Acoustic Guitar riff, gentle, lilting vocals and some really beautiful piano parts, the song has a meditative feels to it that is drifting and dreamlike. Raise Me Up has a sense that is a little bit more pensive and introverted. The song features fairly minimal guitar, bass and drums, it’s slow and feels more depressive than the rest of the album. As the track develops it gets more purposeful and resolute, the drums come to the fore and drive it forward. Nearer the end the lyrics feels more positive, so the track starts talking about pain and ends feeling as if that pain has been dealt with, giving the song a very cathartic feel.
I’m not sure if it’s because A Thousand Miles is talking about places that Patrick loves, or if it’s the finger picking style of guitar, but I found this track reminiscent of Ralph McTell’s song Streets Of London. The song has minimal drumming and has a lilting, drifting quality that is ephemeral and delicate. This is another track that has a feeling of contentment, a musical equivalent of a warm summer evening.
The album comes to an end with Closure, which is a simple song with softly strummed guitar and vocals that are at the fore, with lyrics that are positive. The music is gentle, lilting and exquisite, the perfect end to a near perfect album. Perfect Light is a stunning album. For an artist like Patrick Walker, who has such a reputation for producing sad and melancholy music, to produce something that comes across as being so filled with positivity and fulfilment feels as if he is escaping his reputation. Don’t get me wrong, this has it’s moments of down, Raise Me Up being a case in point, but it feels as if he has come to some sort of resolution, this is the happiness that comes from dealing with pain, it’s the happiness that comes from overcoming adversity.
Maybe I’m reading too much into the final track being called Closure, but I can’t get away from how this album makes me feel. In the notes I made whilst listening to this album I found a line that that said, “Watching From A Distance (Warning’s perfect masterpiece of sadness and despair) feels like being Heartbroken, Perfect Light feels like being in love”, and I think I’ll end this review with that thought; if Patrick Walker made a soundtrack for your misery with Watching From A Distance, he’s just made an album for you to listen to when you have healed and are in love again. 9/10
Great American Ghost – Torture World (MNRK Heavy) [Zak Skane]