Amateur Ornithologist - The Haunted Life Of Architecture

 

It is very rare for a debut album to reach our Top 10 albums of the year, 2024's Hide did just that and could have been Number 1, but for the quality ly original. on display from that year. You can read my review here. I've been dying to tell you about the follow up for ages and now I can.

The Haunted Life Of Architecture is every bit as good if not better. Daniel Clifford is up there with the likes of Andy Partridge and Stephen Duffy and when Clifford brings the songs home to Sunderland and the other five band members, they become arrangements of the highest order.

Amateur Ornithologist summon up the soul of XTC and the beauty of The Lilac Time. Stunning Orchestral Pop with extraordinary gravitas. Soulful, blissful and incredibly arranged. Songs that are not afraid to take unusual directions when they are already gobsmacking. 

It isn't just the arrangements, the vocal harmonies and rhythm section enhance the joy. This is one incredible listen. At its heart, it is Guitar Pop, but the six take it so far as to be incomparable to that, each song takes you in a different direction.

But, more often it is Pastoral Psych Pop, something that is hard to master, hence my comparison to Partridge and Duffy. Complex arrangements married to vocal harmonies and unique arrangements that are just jaw dropping.

I could have written reams and reams about these 10 songs, but similar to whenever I discover such a great album, I prefer to direct you to a full album listen. I've picked my three favourites that will probably be different tomorrow. Prepare yourself for an extraordinary listen.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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I Don't Hear A Single Albums Of The Year 2024 : Top 10

 

So we get to our Best 10 Albums Of 2024. Any of these 10 could have been Number 1 and this reflected how diverse I Don't Hear A Single has become over the years. It is essentially a home for Indie Pop Rock, but it isn't afraid of taking different paths. For instance Prog and Psych is placed well amongst the 100 albums, which is a testament to how open the ears of followers are.

We chose The Armoires because we believe it was so different to much of everything else we heard in 2024. But, any album that is reviewed on IDHAS is recommended. We only review what we have liked. The 100 albums will be posted as a list later.

1 The Armoires - Octoberland     IDHAS Review

2 The Mommyheads - One Eyed Band      IDHAS Review

3 Teenage Frames - Everything Has Led To This     IDHAS Review

4 King Black Acid - Victory For Mad Love    IDHAS Review

5 Emperor Penguin - Gentlemen Thieves     IDHAS Review

6 Silk Cut - Silk Cut       IDHAS Review

7 Amateur Ornithologist - Hide      IDHAS Review

8 Silent Forum - Domestic Majestic      IDHAS Review

9 Ward White - Here Comes The Dowsers      IDHAS Review

  

10      James Sullivan - Vital Signs     IDHAS Review

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Amateur Ornithologist - Hide

Seasoned watchers / listeners know the way to my musical heart. Great Psych Pop is one way and there will be some of that later, but even more so Quirky Intelligent Inventive Indie and this more than falls into the latter category. Wonderfully so and it is from the UK which is an even bigger bonus.

It can get so frustrating over here. The music scene has got so regional. It is tumbleweed at times and when it does liven up, it is usually something ordinary that gets copied for the next 18 months. So how refreshing to hear an album as special and splendid it is as this. 

The six piece collaborate on the arrangements and they are the real strength here. a little left field adopting Indie, Rock, Prog, Folk and even a little Jazz. At times, the album sounds like Field Music backed by a top notch band. It is also held together by the strength of Daniel Clifford's vocal which gently leads everything.

They can do straight ahead and also complicated from the beautifully performed Indie Pop of the title track to the epic 5 minutes plus of When They Fall which is almost anthem and more than a little like a bigger arranged Orgone Box affair. Incredible harmonies enhance that song even further.

Those harmonies also adorn The Word Is Love, a song built around a Talking Heads like Bassline and a vocal that strangely nears Boy Band Pop. Venetian Blinds is splendidly melancholic led by Sax, yet It Looks Like Magic bursts out the blocks, picking up the pace and even finding time for a Beach Boys like interlude.

I like it best when it goes right to the edge. The opener, A Hidden Path is awesome built on a Baroque Pop arrangement that is almost classical. Then there is the absolute delight that is Time To Talk that encompasses everything that the band does.

At times you think it is The Lilac Time or a Colin Moulding XTC song, but it also contains a Robert Tripp like Guitar line and enters Prog with its killer bassline and Sax. The beauty of the album is that it makes the complex sound so simple. The Anatomy Lesson, for instance, comes across as pure 80s Pop then you realise how much is actually in the song. 

The Sax here is tastefully added, benefitting the song. I have to admit that I have never been that keen on the instrument as it can dominate everything. but here it seems so at home. The last time that I thought that was on the Bandicoot album and that was an Album Of The Year for us and who is to say that this won't be the same? An Essential album to listen to whole and in one word, Magnificent.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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