Future Songs
Future Songsis the seventh album from the Cranes, probably one of the most misinterpreted bands on the planet. The Cranes have often been portrayed as industrial noise merchants, more often as simple goths. One reviewer described singer Alison Shaw as "a baby trapped in a toolbox"; this was intended as a blithe putdown, yet, taken from a different perspective, it's strangely accurate. Deliberately juxtaposing her vocals--her plaintive, unearthly voice delivering painfully open songs of love and loss--with her brother Jim's often punishing soundscapes, the Cranes were always primarily concerned with the way innocents are bruised and broken by life's hard, cold machinery. WithFuture Songs, they continue along the same path, with Alison still clinging to childlike hopes of happiness, despite the collapse of her relationships, and again producing a heart-wrenching set of melodies. And Jim Shaw, no longer intent upon bludgeoning his audience into submission, creates an ingenious and deeply moving backdrop, ranging from the dubby ambience of "Don't Wake Me Up" to the delicate acoustic guitar of "Even When."Future Songsis another superb collection from a laudably diligent, gloriously idiosyncratic, and tremendously gifted band.--Dominic Wills