HISTORY OF GUNS - Half Light
A commendably deep and spirited return from the wayward travellers
Been a while, but they’re here now. There was talk of them returning to a primarily electronic cortex, so I’m expecting songs with strong blowback against running orders, where anything might happen, topsy-turvy chantable fare, with an insidious queasiness, joyous frivolity set against stony toxic adventures. Let’s see how we do.
‘No Longer Earthbound’ has a steady gentrified warbeat and rails against control. At one point I thought they said we were beautiful human dice, but it may be beautiful humans who died, so I prefer my version! They also don’t like chasing time, just to exist. ‘Never Give It Up’ pumps up the volume and ‘All You Dream (You Can Never Have)’ is blessed with a charming recurring motif, as we go from stern to softly memorable push-push. ‘What's Buried (Will Rise)’ is equally solid soiled fun, a picturesque sci-fi sortie, supremely fidgety and endlessly attractive.
‘Flashes of Light (Pt. 5)’ has a sociology lecture going on at first, then gets side-tracked by talking about string. It creeps, spreading out angrily at times, and overall seems quite weird, which is fine. On this wordier form they sound like an enforcer version of Dead Anyway! Big boots beat and vocal disarray. Soothing piano, then escalating like opinionated robots.
It’s hard to work out what they’re on about necessarily in the stolid, stirring ‘When You Don't Matter’, so a lyric sheet would have been helpful here. It’s rises up in a commanding fashion with the delicate start to ‘Arcadia’ slowly inflating like friendly bellows, and that’s another graciously grazed number, percolating prettily until it’s like the ghosts on Jonzun Crew! Of course, if you dare read the accompanying booklet you’ll find Max and Del are space (inner and outer) and time travellers. Who says men can’t multi-dimensional task?
‘Drug Castle’ insists, ‘we are not projects, we are decay’, and that addiction brings self-destruction. The words are right upfront, the music literally lost simmering with the waves in the background, doomy drums eventually sidling in before some crazed loathing. The suspiciously amiable but terrified ‘Survive the Night’ brings the mood down low, then ‘An Invitation’ has more luscious piano and messages of hope over hurt which is a touching epic to close. Not grand ideas, but effective.
They're back and it’s great, and as Max has added in the comments, “it's available for free download from”:
https://historyofguns.bandcamp.com/
Thanks for the review Mick. Appreciated.