The Verve Pipe - Threads

 

Oh how I love The Verve Pipe and they are back in a big way. This is their ninth album, but it hasn't always been plain sailing for me as a critical fan. In earlier days, they fought with The Sugarplastic to take XTC's crown, but then it seemed to take a left turn, not helped by Underneath being released in the week of 9/11. 

Then came the kids albums, pleasant enough, but hardly fulfilling, a bit like a McDonald's Meal. Add in a mixture of line up changes and good, but not great, albums in Overboard and Parachute. My loyalty never wavered. In a similar vein to Cheap Trick, there were killer songs, but you yearned for a great, consistent album. They came good and now so have The Verve Pipe. 

I never ever doubted Brian Vander Ark, but something was out of kilter. The return of brother, Brad after nearly two decades may be a partial explanation. Even more so is the addition of Lee Channing who appears to have an influence on the album and the chemistry seems to have returned. 

Threads is a wonderful album. The Andy Partridge references will certainly be mentioned by reviewers, but there is also a more mainstream side to parts of the album. Love Will Find You Again is an example of this. Vander Ark offers up a Peter Gabriel like vocal and Channing's backing vocals add weight as does her Nashville influence with the slight twang.

You Deserve Whatever Comes Around has hints of Psych Pop and 60's UK Beat whilst also sailing close to Arc Of A Diver era Stevie Winwood. The duet on The Freeze is a cracking slice of Americana and Found is in Simon And Garfunkel territory.

These songs still reveal Vander Ark's mastery of lyrics, but the instrumentation isn't as angular as past times and that really works. The strings on Set Me On Fire are haunting. There are also plenty reminders of that ability to twist a song in the way latter day XTC did.

The Witching Hour is a great example of this, as is Forever Reaching. Then there's No One's Gonna Break This Heart (Again) is an epic 5 minutes. This isn't an album that is like Villains, but it is every bit as great. just in a very different way. The Verve Pipe have matured splendidly. Highly Recommended!

You can listen to the album here. You can buy the album everywhere.

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