I doubt this will ever be regarded as a defining album in the Tindersticks career, it also seems to have failed to catapult them into any sort of wider recognition, but it remains one of both theirs and 2010’s finest. How have they achieved this? Largely by making a very stylistically adventurous Tindersticks album whilst remaining unmistakeably themselves. I’m not saying it’s ‘The Tindersticks Party Album’ (remember that on Mark & Lard?) but a song like ‘Harmony Around My Table’ is easily one of the most uplifting things they’ve ever done. With a vocalist whose tone is as relentlessly mournful as Stuart Staples though, you can’t help but suspect there’s an underlying sadness to the lyric even when on the surface all is rosy: “I found a penny, I picked it up”. Across the album the band cover a range that runs from Country to Lounge to Rock. In fact it’s the latter that impresses the most with two later tracks, ‘Black Smoke’ and ‘No Place So Alone’ literally soaring with savage electric intent.
The instrumental stuff here is vital as well, no mere filler or link tracks, this is heavy duty composition tailor made for a film or TV drama soundtrack to pick up on. The album closer ‘Piano Music’ is simply lush, atmospheric strings swirling and meshing with gently picked keyboard notes and a stunning piece of moody music indeed. Further proof that the Tindersticks are a fully formed sound making entity who, like so many of the truly great bands, can turn their hand at a wide range of stylings and genres. You can listen to the whole of ‘Falling Down A Mountain’ here:
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