Well, what a bloody lovely album this is.

If I were old fashioned and still used a typewriter, there is every chance I’d have an waste-paper basket by my side overflowing with attempts to review this album. It’s not that it’s a complicated album, or that I couldn’t get my head around it’s sound. It’s simply because I wanted to do it justice. I’ll more than likely turn into some bumbling idiot yelling the odd brilliant, superb or magnificent in there for good measure, but for now, I’ll try my best to stay coherent.

‘Payday’ opens the album with a drone and echo sound which sounds somehow like a call to sit up and listen to what’s coming next. ‘Crank Resolutions’ is a mesmerisingly beautiful song with frantic synths and loops. There’s something mad but at the same time very settling about it. It’s a song I’ve repeatedly listened to over the last month and the effect is always the same, a knowing smile that this is one of the reasons why I love music.

The albums keeps pace with the industrial soundscape and title track ‘All Creatures Will Make Merry’ and then almost effortlessly shifts pace to the acoustic ‘Weather’ followed by the stripped back, ukelele, song from a long time ago sounding ‘One Day This’ll All Be Fields’.

I could go on, describing each track individually and how it switches from fast to slow, frenetic to soothing, loud to soft, but it might make it sound like a jumbled up and incoherent album which is what it is not. It’s effortless and graceful, it takes you other places and makes you excited about where it will go next.

And whilst many ‘last tracks’ can be utterly forgettable or skippable because the six minute gap for the hidden track is just not built for the i-pod generation, ‘A Fair Exchange’ a beautiful 72 second piano driven song, with strings which is a reflective and comforting way to end one of the best albums I’ve heard all year.

The album is released on the brilliant Song, By Toad Records on May 24th but special limited handmade copies are available, subject to availability, here and at Meursault shows. Talking of Meursault shows, this poster was too good not to stick on the blog. Even better that it looks like an amazing line up!

It seems like the local music scene is beginning to hot up again after christmas and ‘The Big Freeze’ with plenty of good releases and gigs coming up. I felt like there was a real lack of decent gigs through January, however, couple this with post christmas debt and a busy day-job, it might just be me.

A band that have only recently caught my attention, thanks to Jim at Aye Tunes is Spaghetti Anywhere. They are based in London and play uncomplicated indie pop. A little bit in the vain of Belle and Sebastian or Camera Obscura although I am always very wary of comparing bands. Anyways, they are definitely worth checking out and their E.P. is released on Feb 22nd on Toy Soldier Records.

If you can’t wait until Feb 22nd for your fill of new music, I suggest you point your browsers in the direction of Glasgow based label/collective Wise Blood Industries from tomorrow where you will be able to download the new single ‘The Hours’ from The Kays Lavelle. I’ve given it a couple of listens now and the orchestration is fantastic and I just love the haunting vocals. Their album, recorded by Neil Pennycook of Meursault, is due out in the spring and no doubt when that comes around it will be very hotly anticipated.

There’s quite a few gigs this week to look out for in Glasgow this week. The aforementioned Meursault play next Sunday (21st) at Nice and Sleazys with Xiu Xiu and North Atlantic Oscillation. Working backwards, we may have mentioned at some point that King James, Maple Leaves, Craig Davidson and Cuddly Shark will be playing at The Liquid Ship on Friday night (19th), more details here. On Thursday a big Happy Birthday goes out to the Glasgow PodcART dudes. They will be having a bit of a shindig to celebrate with sets from St Deluxe, Little Yellow Ukeleles and Campfires in Winter. That all goes down at the 13th Note. Lastly (but also firstly this week), on Wednesday night at Brel the fantastic Julia and The Doogans, Panda Su and Sophie’s Pigeons will play some pretty acoustic songs.

Anyways, that’s about all my thoughts for now, we’re going to get this blog a bit more populated with features and reviews over the next few weeks so keep checking back and don’t be a stranger!