Labels: Whaleboy Records
Review by: Andy Malcolm
I’ve had an on again off again relationship with the Eye down the years. Back in the beginning it was all “OMG, ex-Evergreen, OMG” and I think I was just giving them a listen purely because of this fact. I recently gave a “A Bottle, A Dog, Some Milk, A Bottle” a relisten and it was a bit of a slog, the vocals were a lot more in the Tom Waits fashion back then, and whilst I enjoyed the music, it’s not quite what I was after. This came out in 2002 and I think I gave the band a bit of a wide berth for a while, not that they were entirely productive mind you, until picking up 2009s “Til I Prine” which was much more up my alley. Shit, there is a song on there that sounds like it could have been on the “Freight Train and Wind Songs” 7″!! What’s not to like? And then the Eye drop their first slab of vinyl on us for almost a decade, in “Today Was Another Day”, and from first listen I was totally hooked on an album of generally down beat, getting by country music. It conjures up romantic notions of living a life in a warm and dusty part of the United States, with a beaten up pick up truck, a scruffy dog, and coping with whatever shit that life throws at you. In a just world, the Eye would get to soundtrack the the forthcoming movie of Willy Vlautin’s wonderful book “The Motel Life”, but I guess they’ll probably ask Vlautin to do that himself. Hey ho.
The record opens with it’s strongest song in the ridiculously good “Money in Bank”. A melancholy country-pop affair, it makes me long for a record entirely in this vein. It’s a simple, repetitious little song, but man alive, it’s one of those songs I can listen to over and over in a row, without tiring. The Eye show such a mastery of song writing here, and the wistful vocals are perfect. WHAT WE WANT IS MORE OF THIS KIND OF THING! It’s a bit of a high standard to set yourself, but they make a good fist of it, with weird little songs like “We’re Farmin'”, which, obviously, is about farming. The vocals make a return to that deeper style on here, but I find it easier to stomach these days, must be gettin’ old. There aren’t too many hark backs to the Evergreen era on this record, no surprise, that was getting on for two decades ago, but the ever so lovely “Void” makes hints with it’s sad intro and broken down vocals as does “Sentimental Junk”. I also want an Eye record entirely in this vein. Hey, a guy can dream eh? Pretty much every song on here is notable, I could bang on about them all, but things draw to a close on the glorious “Movin’ On” which sums up the album’s feel and nature majestically. Super.
So it all adds up to a blindingly good record. Love it. Absolutely love it. Whoever did the album layout, however, needs to be taken outside and shot. No, wait, they need to be taken outside and given a camera, to do some shooting with. I mean, the band have these great pictures on their website, why the heck is one of them not the album cover?!
