Every now and again (approximately once a year) a band comes along that makes an absolutely stunning emo LP that completely blows me away. In the past 4 or 5 years those bands have been Sinaloa, the South, the Vida Blue, Yaphet Kotto and the Pine. They have made records that just drop my jaw in amazement. Start to finish glorious. Life at These Speeds join that pantheon with this release on Perpetual Motion Machine and Owsla (two labels that do everything right). 8 tracks slung together in a sparse and under-stated piece of card. There’s no hint that it contains a set of powerful and explosive songs that are an absolute treat.
Side A blasts off with ‘You Know To Say Yes’ which I have had on MP3 for some time, a prelude of what was to come. It’s actually one of the least standout tracks on here now that I can listen to the LP as a cohesive whole, which is really saying something as it’s a good ‘un. LaTS deal in tightly wound grooves and passionately cried vocals, building songs up with a deft and inspired touch. On each song the guitars twist and turn whilst propelled through the wall by the drums and bass. There are so many moments of utter perfection such as on ‘Birds and Climates’ when the track speeds up into a repeated section and the vocals are just getting too much, then it drops out all of a sudden into just drums and those heart-breaking emo chords and the singing is in that sobbing Chris Leo fashion. And and and, there’s just too much to say. I am inept at describing songs like this. Listen to the staggering finale on ‘Small Sparks’ with all the vocals just cascading around and the guitars spiraling and sprawling. Sheesh. LaTS are equally adept at the morose twinkle, ‘Knives’ is just killer with it’s emoasfuck intro and knee-buckling vocals as the song gradually meanders along before it suddenly leaps into the noisy ending. The record continues being amazing on the second side, with particular standout moments from the breakdown and distant sung vocals on ‘Submerge’ before it builds back up into another ridiculously fine ending which just descends into that ‘end of the world’ mess of guitar and vocals that all good emo bands do. I could continue pointing out bits and pieces and attempting to describe the entirety of the final two songs but what is the point. It would just be me babbling more adjectives and fawning hopelessly.
So ends one of my rare reviews that embarrassingly descends into eulogy, I shouldn’t do it but I am a music lover not a music critic. I love records and bands and labels and people that make all this happen. Life at These Speeds are too good. Seriously. Way too good.