EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\

Heroes of Scotland

No doubt, Scotland is not as rich in talents as her elder sister England, but when true stars emerge in that land you can be sure to see them. They shine too bright to be missed. Glasvegas can say they are new Scotland’s heroes with straight face. Their debut album, released in 2008, showed that the press were right keeping constant focus on them. Indie rock seems to be that kind of music without boundaries where talented performers and authors can always find space for something new to write and play. Glasvegas find this genre very comfortable to work and look forward to expanding their activities. However, they were forced to slow down a bit after the artful start due to the replacement of the drummer. Anyway, in the first half of 2011 they delivered a CD named EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\. Just like in case with the debut record, the lyricist, and this means the maker of the atmosphere, was one and only leader of the band, James Allan.

Darkened mood to prevail the new work by Glasvegas

After the slightly dragged out intro Pain Pain, Never Again with electronic music as cold and powerful as an ocean wave, Glasvegas switch to what seems to be the best piece of the album. And that is The World Is Yours, whose title is a quotation from the epic gangster saga Scarface. You can not miss the exquisite technique and vigor demonstrated by the band’s new drummer Joanna Lofgren who casts iron hard rhythms to the song. Allan’s Scottish pronunciation makes it even impossible to figure out what he says, but what is absolutely undoubted is that he leaves his soul in this one. This is the man who knows how to infect you with all the longing, sadness and unrest so that you and he should become participants or witnesses to a real tragedy. The same spirit of uneasiness passes over to You, but the follow-up Shine Like Stars is an unexpected oasis of optimism and seems to be the album’s brightest piece. Still, there are a lot more depressive and dispiriting songs on EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\. All of them are based on persistent heavy monotonous synthesizers and constantly changing vocal range. Whatever Hurts You Through The Night, and I Feel Wrong About You feature Allan lifting his singing to extremely high notes bringing in motives of paranoia and hysteria. The musicians are also very precise and thoughtful when adding electric guitars meaning to provide the necessary rock attributes such as drive and power.

A match for the debut

There’s no ray of hope in the album’s closing song Change finished with uncomforting words address by a mother to her son. She, as it is clear from the context, is not happy with what her son has become. Yet we can and must be happy with what the Scots from Glasvegas have brought us on their new album EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\. Although the title combines euphoria and broken hearts together, it is totally nervous, uneasy and thus powerful and impressive. There is still wishing that in the future all of the musicians should take part in the song-writing process to keep the band from turning into Allan’s solo-project. He is evidently using music to release all the negative thoughts, expectations and memories. However, the pale color of sadness matches their music as much as it can. EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\ could have been a platform of experiments so dearly loved by young performers, but Glasvegas made their second album an effective continuation of the best ideas offered on their debut CD.