Review Summary: I Just Turned Into a Gas
That's me on that swing right there. Faceless in the dark, feet raking the earth. It's a warm night for Autumn; no breeze, no rain. Four in the morning so I'll assume I'm alone. But you never know. I've left the headlights on in my car, it lights the scene and reminds me I'm still here. The caramel of the leaves and green glow of the pine do well to both hide and highlight my fading identity. The blue of denim and white of leather are all that's left of me to show. I've barely even blinked for the best part of twenty minutes. Locked in a state of suspended animation. There's a book twenty years thick in my head, and its pages are being turned every other second. Never enough time to register all the words. If you look closely, you can see the dangle of wires from either side of my face. Film School –
alwaysnever.
Since discovering this four track EP about six months ago, there has rarely been a 'solitary' night where
alwaysnever has not been part of the soundtrack. As far as four am records with street-lights and park benches go,
alwaysnever is near faultless. Film School have nailed down, musically, what it means to drift and float, but still remain human. The opener Ms. Connection, with its airy distillation of frustration and freedom, spilling washed out drums and hazy vocals from its fluctuating ambience, sets the shoegazing scene perfectly. It's not restrained; it's controlled with room to explore. The next two tracks, Activated and p.s, are not quite as clouded in shoegaze fog, but even with their more traditional indie approaches they still hit the sweet spot of active stillness; like bolted passengers staring out of a train window.
alwaysnever ends with my favourite closer of just about any EP. I Just Turned Into a Gas is something you simply need to hear, whether bumming at home or alone in the park at night. Its opening piano which somehow manages to penetrate to the core while simultaneously soothing the wound, its fragile, believable lyrics and vocals resonating from all angles, its beautifully implosive, tidal climax, washing you inside out and beating the breath from your lungs, yet somehow managing to stop your face from moving a muscle. It all comes together to create a gorgeous, if temporary, solution to a permanent problem.
alwaysnever makes it so that the open page in your book of thoughts is unturned for just that extra second needed to make sense of it all.
But charlesfishowitz said it better than I ever could right here anyway. http://slaysfordays.blogspot.com/2009/04/film-school-alwaysnever.html
