Words: Gareth O’Malley

There are two words that can either thrill or chill a music fan through their very utterance. Those two words are ‘concept album’. They conjure up the idea of progressive rock at its height: noodling guitar solos, lyrics that are either about nothing in particular or head-wreckingly obtuse, and pretentious story arcs.

‘Drown Your Heart Again’ features none of these, but it could be said to be a ‘concept album’ anyway as it has one unifying theme. The Strange Death of Liberal England concern themselves with naval matters, the sea, and other such watery things.

Of course, there are some rather clever metaphors thrown in along the way. In fact, we would take a guess at this theme being a metaphor for some kind of existential despair, because this record is overflowing with anxiety and sadness.

Seriously. It’s one of the darkest albums we’ve heard in quite a long time. By only its second song, lead single ‘Flagships’, frontman Adam Woolway is already tackling the prospect of suicide: ‘Running to the edge, jump right off the pier / I said there’s nothing left ‘round here’.

Never mind fear of the present, though; the stronger feeling is of a person haunted by their past and full of regret. Opener ‘Flickering Light’ contains the key lyric, ‘I watch films of when I was young, and think of all the things that I could have done’, whilst album highlight ‘Lighthouse’ speaks of ‘cold, sleepless nights and regretting mistakes’.

Paradoxically, the music on offer is sometimes about as cheerful you could get. The uptempo feel of ‘Rising Sea’ recalls something off Interpol’s last album (we’re thinking ‘Mammoth’), only much better, whereas ‘Come On You Young Philosophers!’ brings to mind the best of Arcade Fire.

The album is fired by unashamedly big statements, with big music to match for the most part, but at certain times the songs are more subdued and introspective. ‘Autumn’ is the most pared-back song on offer, but no less effective, building to a glorious finale. ‘Yellow Flowers’ is almost lament-like, meanwhile, but it throws off the shackles of misery midway through to burst into life in stunning fashion.

The epic ten-minute closer ‘Dog Barking At The Moon’ finishes things with a flourish. By now, the naval narrative has reached its end, with Woolway almost howling to express his frustration and hopelessness: ‘I’m never coming home, ‘cause nothing makes sense to me’. The song fades, and we are treated to a segue consisting of swelling and breaking waves, before the song’s coda is given new life in an orchestral reprise that ends the record in style.

‘Drown Your Heart Again’ is that rarest of records. It’s life-affirming whilst bemoaning a life gone horribly wrong. It’s euphoric and deeply depressing, and somehow this contradiction works. They built on the promise displayed on ‘Forward March’, so much in fact that we wonder just how they’re going to follow this up. It’s not flawless, but my word, does it come close.

9.6

Audiovisuals: Rising Sea