Super Woomble (100 Broken Windows - Idlewild)

Member Name: indiecater

Product:	100 Broken Windows - Idlewild
Date:	19/03/02 (52 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Broaching Majesty While Still Remaining Regal.

Disadvantages: Unlikely To Topple The King Of Pop.

If you want to catch them before they are propelled skywards with all the speed of a particularly well armed firework then now is the time. Forging to greater heights with each new release Scotland's Idlewild are in the throes of becoming as important as anything that America can come up with at the moment.

Taking their name from the hiding place in the 'Anne Of Green Gables' book this is a foursome that have the wherewithal to flabbergast. '100 Broken Windows' is their second album and comes complete with at least a dozen compilation tape favourites. It was released almost 2 years ago in April 2000 and on the eve of the release of their 3rd long player it is a joy to recall its grandness.

One of the album's singles 'Little Discourage' opens the noise fest with a crafty confidence. While it had minimal impact sales wise its classy internal streamlined guitar displays highlight a maturity that was often lacking in their gorgeously ebullient debut 'Hope Is Important'. Singer Roddy Woomble comes off sounding like a youthful Michael Stipe as his lyrics drip with irony.

Idlewild's genius is their knack of conjuring tunes that aren't that obvious at first. While immediacy certainly has it's place there is something more soulful in the adventure of uncovering a hook you didn't think existed. That's why so many of Idlewild's tunes stand up perfectly to multiple listens. 'These Wooden Ideas' trips up its own title because it is positively full of intricate loveliness. The pacing is fluid with little nooks and crannies exposing giant realms of sketchbook genius. Find some surround sound home cinema speakers and float Dead Sea like on a massive jamboree of cartoon notes.

'Roseability' seemed like a odd choise to promote the album but even if you feel it passed you by the first time it is entirely probab
le that you'll be humming it 2 days later while you struggle to work out where such a nice tune came from. What 'Roseability' lacks in hidden grooves it more than makes up with adrenaline fuelled aggression and stable percussion.

A well known trick with clued in guitar blended bands is to pitch effortless harmony after a elated period of meaningless crashing guitars noise. So we have 'Idea Track', where Roddy Woomble tears his vocal chords over an horrendous montage of misleading chords until out of the blue a chorus that would clean dirt from under your fingernails swoops in with all the grace of swan. As Woomble forages onwards and upwards for more meaning the effect is thrilling, a piece that could have been tacked onto 'Nevermind' with minimal fuss and maximum effect. At the end the storm subsides and the viola recreates the foggy scene over those hushed and humbled words.

When it seems that your emotions could hardly be aroused to any greater effect 'Let Me Sleep (next to the mirror)' ambles in to rock your world once more. Here the playing is a little more controlled, for once Rod Jones on guitar lets the singing do the talking. The heartbreaking image whisks you away on the white horse displacing that knight in shining army who had played that tired old trick dozens of times before. As the sunset beckons the sound of freedom comes from four Northern British blokes.

'100 Broken Windows' spreads the full spectrum of alternative attractiveness. At times it swaggers under a torrent of inebriated noise, elsewhere it is as delicate as a embalmed butterfly. 'Quiet Crown' successfully marries both persuasions. The jangling guitars suggest a solemn ditty but as soon as you settle down for another cup of cocoa a tidal wave of electrifying notes bleat beneath the surface as the frontman twists and turns under the weight of his own talent.


With all the man made ingenious of a wind tunnel 'Actually It's Darkness' has the credentials to quite literally blow the cobwebs from your ears. 'Why Can't Your Be More Cynical' he screams while all the time perfectly retaining the sense that he is creating something beautiful that people might like to listen to in their living rooms. Hurtling down the same tunnel at the speed of light 'Listen To What You've Got' is for all intensive purposes the aerobic teachers worst nightmare. At best liable to incur refunds and at worst heart attacks it is a wonderful expression of youth let loose on unsuspecting instruments.

While Idlewild have several reference points that become obvious as the album progresses they retain their own ID throughout. 'The Bronze Medal' could be Mogwai if they lent full throttle to their wayward vocal tendencies. Perhaps the result does come across a little lame which is a pity because the swansong should have sealed this classic. 'Rusty' is as dark as moody as any Joy Division piece. On occasions it contorts to uncover a fine chorus that fits in perfectly with its own idiosyncrasy.

Idlewild certainly have the product and imagination to make something of themselves. There predisposition to touring in the outer reaches of the earth (the Orkney Islands for instance) means that the ambition and will is there in abundance. Luckily the music world is becoming more fertile by the day for this type of sound. Quite what the slew of Strokes/White Stripes clones is likely to bring can only be to Idlewild's advantage. And boy do they deserve every willing ear that turns their way. It seems that unlike its binary equivalent '100 Broken Windows' is refreshingly bug free.

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