News / / 20.09.12

TALL SHIPS

Everything Touching (Big Scary Monsters / Blood and Biscuits)

16/20

If there is a better album opening gambit than the soaring grunge face smash that is T=0 then we’d like to hear it. Talk about announcing yourselves, this one is the sound of a band going for the knockout in the first round. Falmouth’s Tall Ships have arrived. Everything Touching is the recorded embodiment of what has made them such an engrossing and reputable live band, not least due to a commitment to the road that has seen them rack up more miles than might be considered healthy. Tempo switches, pedal switches, ups, downs, instrument switches, fragile moments and raucous energy, the album is a tumultuous mélange of harmony and energy (see Ode To Ancestors), at times glorious (Books) and at others outright ambitious, not least the 9 minute closer Murmurations, a track you can imagine they discussed penning with a simple sentence: “Shall we start and finish with a bang then, yeah?” Anyone who has been blown away by Tall Ships live will be overjoyed to hear their undoubted promise has been brought to life on such an upbeat and assured debut full-length.

 

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Words: Thomas Forst

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