Gerard Love has drifted away from the fuzzy power pop of his former band, the much-loved Teenage Fanclub, but it’s clear he still has a great ear for melody. Under his new guise, Lightships, he delivers a heart-warming album of pastoral folk-pop that gently caresses and soothes the soul.
The songs on Electric Cables nurture by way of nature, from the watery imagery of the opening songs, Two Lines and Muddy Rivers, to the leisurely sun-worshipping of the album’s later, even more low-key songs. If there’s a theme amongst all the greenery, it’s one of aging and how to survive these later years by adapting – which is exactly what Love has done with Lightships.
Love has a Grade A group of indie Glaswegians in tow to help flesh out the compositions, including Teenage Fanclub members Brendan O’Hare and Dave McGowan, and Belle & Sebastian’s Bob Kildea. The songs glide along on a sea of simplicity but are bulked out with extensive instrumentation, such as on the occasional sweeping, organ-bashing chorus of Silver and Gold or the unabashed pop shimmy of Sweetness In Her Spark. Electric Cables doesn’t dig particularly deep but it’s easy to surrender to its snuggly charms.
BY CHRIS GIRDLER
Best track: Muddy Rivers
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: How I Long To Feel That Summer In My Heart GORKY’S ZYGOTIC MYNCI, Spoon and Rafter MOJAVE 3, The World Won’t End PERNICE BROTHERS
In A Word: Breezy
