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Review Summary: An overlooked & under-appreciated band boldly push their sonic boundaries. One has to wonder why bands – and/or their record labels – bother releasing LPs during the months of December and January, since promoting such albums successfully is nigh on impossible. Disposable income is down due to Christmas spending, compilation releases are hogging the charts, and year-end lists have either already been compiled or are eleven months away. Sure, the likes of Beyonce can do it – but she doesn’t even have to announce upcoming music for it to sell millions. Such a release date is even more confounding from musicians who can be considered overlooked and under-appreciated; making it puzzling as to why English rockers Canterbury chose the second week of January to release their fan-funded third LP ‘Dark Days’. It’s a real shame that the quartet will most likely continue to avoid just recognition, too, since ‘Dark Days’ is a cracker of an album!
Right from the get-go, there is a genuine sense of a band boldly pushing their sonic boundaries in order to distinguish themselves from a crowded scene. The opening minute or so of opener ‘Expensive Imitation’ sums up the LP in a sense; beginning with an atmospheric instrumental introduction, before a hooky riff and insistent drum-beat enters the fray. Later, its bridge is ominously foreboding, yet gang vocals and strings add an involving feel-good element. It’s an athemic tune, without being obvious in its motives; as gloomy introspection juxtaposes with uplifting catchiness to make for a mission statement of sorts. This is best heard further on the intriguing mid-album trio which includes the keys-driven stomp cum barnstorming rocker ‘Hold Your Own’, the expert dynamics of ‘Think It Over’, and the acoustic guitar and organ ballad which climaxes with a flurry of horns that is ‘By The Trail’.
With Canterbury predominantly taking the softer and more melodic route to differentiate themselves, cynics may feel that tracks such as ‘All My Life’, ‘Keep It Moving’, 'Run From a Gun' and 'Out From the Cold' cross the line into easy-listening radio fodder. This is where the much-improved dual vocal dynamic of Luke Prebble and Mike Sparks comes in to save the day. Their pitch-perfect harmonization lends tunes - no matter what the pace or volume - an impressive fluidity, which recalls the vocals of Birds of Tokyo and Karnivool front-man Ian Kenny. The musicianship also plays its role though, with the quartet maturing to the point that they know how to fuse each other's skills and strengths to suit each individual tune, while also forming a cohesive whole. What the album may lack in technical innovation, it satisfyingly augments with the aforementioned array of additional instrumention.
'Dark Days' is by no means perfect, yet many of it's weaknesses are inherent from catch-22 strengths... For what could be classified as a mainstream-leaning release, the album lacks a standout single. Anthemic glam-rocker 'Elephant' and the subtly infectious 'All My Life' may come closest, yet either tune could become cringe-worthy had Canterbury aimed for the top of the charts. Additionally, the track-ordering results in the LP's diversity through eight tracks being borderline astonishing, yet leaves the closing triumvirate feeling just a little redundant. The strings-infused closer 'Going Nowhere' is actually ironically titled, since it's a little too predictable and underwhelming. One thing it does do, however, is set the scene for Canterbury's future, with the refrain "We're Going Somewhere" echoing in the listener's ears as 'Dark Days' comes to a close. Let's hope that "somewhere" is a prosperous future with many more excellent releases.
Recommended Tracks: Expensive Imitation, Hold Your Own, Think It Over & By The Trail.
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Album Rating: 4.0
Just a quick write-up to let people know that this band exists.
Thanks to Schoonda for letting me know this album had been released. Bloody January releases.
In addition to single 'Think It Over' (soundcloud'ed above), here's a sub-par quality link to my album highlight 'Expensive Imitation': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KK1HsWPzs0
And here's what many will think is the best track... 'Hold Your Own': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxMY61EXKdM
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I like this new soundcloud attachment thing.
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Canterbury are pretty ehh, dunno if I'll bother with this. Granted, I haven't heard any of their output since like 2009
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Yeah YDA, it's very handy. Of course, it took me a while to get the hang of using it properly. Unfortunately, with a band like Canterbury, I had all of 1 song to choose from!
If you have 5 minutes IG, try the YT link to 'Hold Your Own'. That will tell you whether this is worth any more of your time. Just factor in the poor sound quality of that link.
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davy i loved the stream i heard of this last week but cant find it anywhere
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Good to hear of someone else sharing the love Jared.
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i should be able to throw it a 4 with a few more spins
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Tbh, I'm not expecting many 4 ratings for this. To use the Ian Kenny connection again, I'm guessing people here will stray away from bands going the softer BoT route. But this is better than BoT's last 2 LPs. I'd actually compare it more to a poor man's 'Phoenix' by The Classic Crime, which was my album of the year in 2012.
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You're the only other reviewer I know that puts so many albums under recommended by reviewer yay
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
You say that like you were doing it first. Let's make one thing clear bucko: I'm the originator. ;-)
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I know that mister
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
I prefer master. Hehe.
Man, just realised you have almost 47,000 comments. You can have that award Treb.
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Wow. I really like the linked song. May have to check this.
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Might have to start calling you master originator from now on, Davey.
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cheers for the mention, still need to give this a chance, any full album streams available Davey?
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Oooh, finally a staffer reviewing this band. Album was okay, definitely better than "Heavy in the Day" but not as good as "Thank You". I don't think they'll ever top that.
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just when i thought i might be able to come from behind and overtake your # of reviews davey you dog
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Nice to see a review of this on here, although I'm yet to pick this up. Their previous releases are great though
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nice to see you back in business davey! good review too I'll try and find time to check these guys out
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Good to hear Ed. Presuming you mean the soundcloud one, I've only got that as the 3rd best on the album. Although, its catchiness is growing on me.
Magnus, you could say that the Master Originator is my M.O.
No probs schoonda. And thanks again. There previously was a stream on RockSound, but it's been taken down now.
They definitely need more love SputnikSweetheart. I've enjoyed everything they have done before, but never caught them near their release date. If I had to compare this to 'Thank You', it's a close race. 'Thank You' may be more catchy & enjoyable, but the ambition here is higher & they still retain some of the melodic catchiness. I think I'll go with this LP just.
Get to 200 first Rudy.
As per above Mitch. It's about time re: reviews for this band.
For the time being, I am back in business. All things going well, I may even have another review up by mid-week.
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