The Depeche Mode vibe returns on the saxophone-swept The Other Shoe (Reprise), albeit a Depeche Mode that grew up in the shadow of Radiohead, and this transpires to be a short segue preparing the ground for the hulking My Thoughts Are Not My Own. A shorter track, Rich Man’s War employs a taut beat, as if to clear away the layers of ambience built up over the preceding tracks, and it serves as a powerful palette cleanser prior to the bizarre, Tom Waits confessional of Where Did I Go Wrong, all honky-tonk piano and regret.
It’s a remarkable effect and one that adds yet greater depth to the brooding soul of the vocal. Indeed, there’s an airy ambience to the track that seems to weave, dreamlike, around Jeff’s vocal, creating a soundscape that shimmers somewhere in front of the speakers. Opening the album’s second side, Money Isn’t Everything retains the ambience of Creation Reproduction And Death but allows a lighter touch to emerge through Will Andrews’ jazzy beat. Words, to be honest, fail to do the remarkable ambition of this piece justice, and it has to be heard to be fully appreciated. With Dan Spalding’s creeping bass underpinning guitars that send out showers of sparks, Creation Reproduction and Death is a dark soundtrack to late night lust, Jeff channelling a particularly lascivious Iggy Pop as he prowls the darkened streets. It leaves the monumental Creation Reproduction And Death to round out the first side, which it does in blistering form. Essentially, the sort of music Kings of Leon spent their entire career trying to create perfected in six little minutes, Going Nowhere is the sound of dusty, mid-West, haunted and empty, yet in possession of a mysterious power that emerges as Gregor Lothian’s gorgeous saxophone sweeps across the mix. It gives way to the rippling post rock of Stood Up At The Gates Of Heaven, caught in an ethereal whirlpool sound tracked by Mogwai and Soundgarden, that builds to an unexpectedly potent crescendo before tumbling towards the hymnal beauty of Going Nowhere. Jeff is in his element here, his vocal cracking with emotion as the band weave their magic around him, and the sparkling solo that emerges at the conclusion has a similar impact to the stately lead work of David Gilmour. Drawn into its core, the listener has no option but to lose themselves in the sumptuous production and let the blues wash over them in waves. Epic in scope, Divine Intervention is undoubtedly an album highlight, with its serpentine slide work and lysergic beat. However, these two pieces, as good as they are, only set the scene for what follows. A twisted blues pitched closer to Depeche Mode’s electronically-augmented take on the form than Muddy Waters, it’s driven by Benjamin Anderson’s deft use of keyboards and Will Andrews’ subtly innovative percussion. What Did You Expect is no less unconventional. The atmospheric noise and shuffling beat of The Value Of Zero is not necessarily an obvious choice for opening number, but the sense of menace it exudes is tangible, Jeff and his cohorts exhibiting a hitherto unnoticed alt/prog edge reminiscent of A Perfect Circle.
Right from the start, The Light Below has the listener hooked. However, far from slow the band down, the shift in personnel seems to have revitalised Jeff, and The Light Below is an album that sits comfortably between the twisted gospel blues of Screaming Trees, the confessional nightmares of Afghan Whigs and the dark electronica of latter-day Depeche Mode. Relatively quick off the mark with their debut album (released in 2013), the band, which featured both Barrett Martin (ex-Screaming Trees) and Duff McKagan (G’n’R), took five long years to release 2018’s WP2, with Barrett and Duff departing in its wake due to commitments elsewhere. Formed in 2012, Walking Papers is a Seattle-based band centred around Jeff Angell (The Missionary Position).
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