Small Black Arrows: The British Museum
42’s Records
Vinyl | CD | DL
Available 31st May
Without doubt one of the best releases this year Small Black Arrows pierce a hole in your heart with some of the best music around. A Mercury hitting slab of a concept album that will keep you captivated for a long time with the texture of soul and hard hitting beauty from a duo who mean business. Wayne AF Carey reviews…
When you hear something special you hear it. This duo have totally raised the game of modern music as we know it. They don’t comply to your normal indie by numbers in all the tunes on this epic and just go with the flow on their own agenda. An incite into a tour of walking the museums and giving it all the sprinkles of Floyd with a funky agenda and a pinch of their own magic soul.
Their lyrics betray an obvious fondness for their working-class upbringing and discuss difficult areas including cultural appropriation, culture’s role in mental illness & how ‘othering’ in communities erodes a sense of self, but the tone remains contemplative, not accusatory, with sentimentality reflected in the arrangements, resulting in music that is affectionate toward the streets that provided the awkward thrill of first love.
It’s the tour of the museum interludes that set the scene for the whole excellence of this epic. And I say epic with true meaning. Machinations is pure coolness oozing with beauty and lights the match with sprinkles of the sort of stuff Alt J would kill for. Voices In The Static has some soaring vocals from Luke Bailey who knows his stuff. The Wave is majestic modern folk that hits your heart like an arrow, and not just a black one, maybe a rainbow one perhaps? The Tower is just a great piece of music. Acoustic guitar that floats across your brain with the Mancunian lyrical twinge from Luke, backed with the majesty of Jimmy Hanley who isn’t related to my favourite Hanley’s but may have a bloodline.
Trojan Horse is one of the highlights. Just think Seal if he got his act together and made a come back. This is bang on stuff with a great guitar lick in the middle that holds the whole song together. The exhibits piece in between are all part of this experience that make a difference to the whole recording on this magic piece of smooth hip hop flecked soul. Pathway To Contrition is another nod to Seal. I’ve never met Luke but when I do he’ll probably agree that he’s an influence. It’s a stunning tune that gets me.
Cherophobia is a proper mellow bastard that gets to your heart with a country guitar lick and down low vibe that kisses your senses with the beauty of Luke getting a bit maudlin, with Jimmy’s input of some top as fuck acoustic magic. We have the last interlude from our museum hosts before the last title track of The British Museum which is a massive funky tune that lights up the sky with the funk of a fantastic band that are hopefully heading for massive heights. An album to celebrate the summer to be played over and over again…
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