Endling
The Heavy Frigate


4.0
excellent

Review

by Trif O Liam USER (22 Reviews)
February 6th, 2021 | 185 replies


Release Date: 2021 | Tracklist

Review Summary: As I keep floating ahead...

The Heavy Frigate is the second full length album of Ashley Collins brainchild Endling, hailing from the unusual musical source of portside Rochester. Speaking from experience, the British coasts of past-glories are now some of the most uniquely depressing places. A reminder of what was, perhaps, abandoned arcades and shops, and frankly, shite weather. However, the coast provides a land of infinite opportunities provided one has a boat and an urge. This album conveys such a journey taken. Thus, in a precursor Endling writes that, ‘The Heavy Frigate is a compendium of conflict told through a nautical lens - of calm seas that belie the frantic happenings below, of arduous journeys bereft of destination’. It’s one which is equally as rich in aura, as it is in performance.

My first exposure to the music of Endling was within the video for the album’s second single, ‘A Question of If’. The song, like a microcosm of the album, is blissful, longing and melancholy. It drifts slowly into one’s ear and remains, softly sneaking deeper with each listen. It’s a noticeable highlight, even amongst an album of many. However, prior to this slow-burning success, what first caught my eye was the video itself. Here, a montage of film reel is presented, layered with a distinct grey hue; footage of boats sailing, humans, wildlife, and places, all existing, all unnamed. A montage of vague moments full of life, separated contextually, and ever-changing. Yet, it conveyed so much to me. Watching it I was reminded of a documentary I had seen years ago, ‘As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty’. Within which, brief moments of our director’s life were cut together without regard for chronology, explanation or clear end goal – they just were. As he quips, ‘it’s always more of the same’. Something about the on-the-surface insignificances of another’s life were so compelling, despite my being so distant in space and time, context, and perspective of those presented within the footage. This effect is transmitted in almost the same way by the aforementioned song’s video in which we are presented with clips of life moving on, as it always does. Perhaps the emotion conveyed exists because those fleeting moments of very little can feel so familiar to one’s own fleeting moments of very little. A strange, distant nostalgia.

In the same vein, The Heavy Frigate feels familiar. Perhaps this is through its composition, which effortlessly floats in a luscious dream-pop ambience, backed with gently tapping minimalist percussion that is blissfully accompanied by the vocals’ monotone croon. This in turn makes space for more luxurious sonics, such as twinkly sparse keys, and ambient droning waves washing over the surface. It’s comfortable, welcoming. Lyrically, the album is similarly successful, if not more so. Centred through a nautical lens, our narrator applies seemingly distant naval themes to poetry relatable to the listener. There are consistent motifs throughout the runtime of longing, uncertainty and inevitability, developing a landscape not too dissimilar in feeling to the album’s artwork. Sonically, Endling here holds his influences at arms-length. It’s familiar, but not off-puttingly.

Where this familiar feeling truly comes to the forefront is in regards to something almost unexplainable. As per the earlier mentioned documentary, it’s the all-encompassing feeling of comfort that is key here. Using the language of its nautical theme, the album floats effortlessly tranquil over the sometimes-harsh waves detailed lyrically. It’s within these ambient moments of zen-like patience where it truly shines. To fans of this seemingly placid corner of music, this is the pull. When done well, this comatose bliss and paradoxical sense of vague melancholy truly carries the listener. The harsh waves of sea can look so good from afar, and sometimes music helps one float on through. This is an album which succeeds in doing so.



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user ratings (47)
3.6
great


Comments:Add a Comment 
Pheromone
February 6th 2021


21634 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

thanks anat for truly making one of the years best albums

hear it here:

https://endlinguk.bandcamp.com/album/the-heavy-frigate

Gyromania
February 6th 2021


37468 Comments


Nice work, will check

JesperL
Staff Reviewer
February 6th 2021


5664 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

super smooth writing, do be pos'd!

album is lovely, think i like it slightly better than the last one

Sunnyvale
Staff Reviewer
February 6th 2021


6175 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Excited to hear this! Nice review

anat
Contributing Reviewer
February 6th 2021


5830 Comments


I am honoured and I am grateful for this exquisite penmanship!!

Pheromone
February 6th 2021


21634 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

no problem boo, cheers for sliding me £100 for it



three-dog nights is sooooo good

porcupinetheater
February 6th 2021


11054 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Fucking beaut of a review no surprise, that second paragraph is a stunner, tied it in beautifully to the documentary (fucking need to watch! 5 hours of home video fuck me UP), and you just captured that sense of "just because it means nothing doesn't mean it doesn't mean everything" so damn well, ugh



NEG

Pheromone
February 6th 2021


21634 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

wow porc you know how to CHARM a girl - documentary is a beaut and so is the album which you now must check



it's in the contract or smthn

porcupinetheater
February 6th 2021


11054 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Fuck I never read those things, must be how I keep losing kidneys and lobes of my liver

FINE I'm on it.



Check my new documentary btw As I Was Pooping the Bed Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Dooty

zelenichajnik
February 6th 2021


624 Comments


A fellow Kent lad! Fuckin beaut of a review btw, this sounds like a quite charming listen.
I refuse to believe that anat isn't the instructor from Whiplash though. That artist picture is designed to just throw me off I'm sure.

Artwork is lovely btw. Really nicely put together.

hel9000
February 6th 2021


1597 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Really nice review Phero. Ive given this a couple listens and am really enjoying it, and yeah the artwork/visuals are gorgeous, nicely done anat!

anat
Contributing Reviewer
February 6th 2021


5830 Comments


believe what you want to believe zelen
I am very glad that you like the artwork!

porcupinetheater
February 6th 2021


11054 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Oh shit wait Anat this is your project??

Divaman
February 7th 2021


16120 Comments


Yes, and nice job anat. (I just finally worked that out too, porcupine.) Nice album, and nice writeup.

Pheromone
February 7th 2021


21634 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Indeed, it's our very own gif-av beauty

Mort.
February 7th 2021


26085 Comments


'Speaking from experience, the British coasts of past-glories are now some of the most uniquely depressing places. A reminder of what was, perhaps, abandoned arcades and shops, and frankly, ***e weather.'

lol spot on

Divaman
February 7th 2021


16120 Comments


That's true of at least some of the former coastal resort areas in the US as well. Atlantic City, NJ is a prime example.

zelenichajnik
February 7th 2021


624 Comments


If you ever get the opportunity to come to my lovely nearby seaside town of Dover, politely decline and do literally anything else. The castle's pretty good, I guess.

Some of the arcades in Margate are inexplicably still open and for the love of God I cannot figure out how. Criminal fronting, probably.

porcupinetheater
February 7th 2021


11054 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Nothing's ever enough for you God damn Coastliners!! You get to smell the sea! You get to fuck under the boardwalk and get a uti!

Divaman
February 7th 2021


16120 Comments


You ever see the scene in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia where one of them walks in on two winos fucking one another under the boardwalk? That would be enough to put you off of that notion forever. (As I recall, that whole episode was about how their memories of this little bit of coastal heaven were all illusions).



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