There is something special about finding a new band - or at least one that's new to you - and watching them grow, change and develop. There's maybe even that hint of dismay when the rest of the world cottons on to what you always knew. It's part of the obsessive and sometimes illogical life of a music fan, which of course I do all pretty much backwards there days. But there's no doubt The Last Battle have changed - and pretty soon the world will be cocking an ear if "The Springwell EP" reaches the audience it deserves. The clues were there on that sweaty night in the Smugglers at Anstruther, but I was far too caught up in seeing them play to be much concerned with the details. The fact is, this largely self-recorded and entirely self-released EP marks a seismic shift in the world of The Last Battle - away from their delicate, nautical brittleness and towards something altogether more robust.
The change is almost immediately evident on "Floored", a shimmery slice of sixties-style pop with an infectious staccato beat and a rolling tide of cello swoops. It also allows the twin vocal talents of Scott Longmuir and Arwen Duncan to shine through on the chorus, as they harmonise infectiously on the lines "punching, punching above my weight/out of breath on the ropes again" drawing out the boxing metaphor at the heart of the song. The song slinks and winds around the sturdy rhythm section, with Brian Pokora's guitar adding deft melodic flecks. If this is how the future of The Last Battle is going to sound, you'll get no complaints from me. It's almost unfair for me to comment on "Ward 119" because it's somewhere up there on my list of favourite ever songs, with the performance at this year's Homegame being one of my highlights of the weekend. Nevertheless, it's here - re-recorded with a full band treatment yet still as potent as its spare, rudimentary appearance on the "Ruins" single which seems like an age ago now. The hospital corridor drama played out over two short verses and a chorus retains all the tension and urgency of the original demo with the rough-edged emotion completely intact in Scott's delivery.
The laconic, regret-fuelled country pop of "Viv Nicholson" winds a tale of excess around a delicately picked electric guitar and a moaning cello. The curiously British story of the woman who won the pools in 1961 in the process becoming something of an early 'reality star' was still occasionally troubling the tabloids when I was a youngster, as she increasingly desperately tried to play on her now remote fame to claw back the money she'd lost back in the early 1960s. The story is given a sensitive and careful treatment here, delivered as a cautionary voice to Viv as she fritters away her win rather than harping on the more tawdry side of her life. The song develops with just Brian's fine guitar work and a gentle cello sounding through, while Scott and Arwen deliver the sad tale with all the poise of those masters of the fall-from-grace country narrative, Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry. It's an unusual choice of subject matter, and it shows a growing songwriting confidence in The Last Battle. "The Last Dance" begins as something of a return to The Last Battle of old - just a banjo and a wind-tunnel echo of a vocal - but then the rhythm section arrives in force and Scott and Arwen begin a duet on a brass inflected tune which is bursting with joy in direct contrast to the fatalism of the lyrics. There's a tiny pause filled with a distant police siren before the entire band wade in as a choir of voices, with brass and banjo accompanying a rousing campfire sing-along ushering the song through to it's fade.
It has been remarkable to watch The Last Battle quietly shape themselves into this current form over the course of a couple of singles and last year's "Heart of the Land, Soul of the Sea" album - which of course breezed it's way onto my end-of-year-list in 2010 with more than a whiff of whisky and seaweed about it's shanties and folky stomps. This new material shows a complete understanding of the concept of the pop song, and a grasp of just how the unique talents at play in the band fit into it. Happily it's all done on their own terms though, and there is no lack of the melodic, fragile folk influence which sparked my original interest in the band - it's just delivered in a more immediate and dynamic way. By subtly changing and growing hugely in confidence, The Last Battle have conceded nothing, but are surely going to gain exposure in lots of exciting new places. "The Springwell EP" is a fantastic place to step into the world of The Last Battle, with a clutch of life-affirming and hugely enjoyable songs and a real sense of the talent and range the band can deploy. However, given the distance they've already travelled since last year's album, I don't think they're going to stand still for long.
"The Springwell EP" is available as a digital download or a CD in a handmade sleeve from The Last Battle's Bandcamp.
The Last Battle - Ward 119
Lost::MikeGTN
I've had a home on the web for more years than I care to remember, and a few kind souls persuade me it's worth persisting with keeping it updated. This current incarnation of the site is centred around the blog posts which began back in 1999 as 'the daylog' and continued through my travels and tribulations during the following years.
I don't get out and about nearly as much these days, but I do try to record significant events and trips for posterity. You may also have arrived here by following the trail to my former music blog Songs Heard On Fast Trains. That content is preserved here too.
