Northern Alliance
For the Grains of Sand
© 2006 Northern Alliance (5014691621500)
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"breathtaking" - Maverick Magazine [4/5]
"works of beautifully fragile optimism...a great album" - The List [4/5]
"a triumph of homespun recording" - The Big Issue [4/5]
"you'll love this" - Is This Music [4/5]
"a charm-filled album" - Sunday Mail
"incredible mix of Spiritualised and The Beta Band" - Daily Record
reviews
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a triumph of homespun recording
author: Peter John Meiklem, The Big IssueLying between the dark, post rock of Mogwai and the quiet vocals of Low, this third album from the East Lothianers is a triumph of homespun recording.
You'll love this
author: Is This Music?'For The Grains Of Sand' is the long-awaited (well, in some circles!) debut album from Edinburgh slo-core enthusiasts Northern Alliance and, as expected, it's packed full of wondrous, slow, swirling guitar epics that entwine themselves in the listeners subconscious. Which is nice. Two exquisite mini albums have surfaced previously (the self-released 'Hope In Little Things' and 'Disaster For Scotland' on Fence Records) but this full-length effort sees the band developing the depth of their songwriting and overall sound. Lead singer Doug Johnstone (Scotland's answer to Mark Linkous?) has a voice that, while hardly ever fully in tune, possesses a certain haunting, melodic quality that helps to pull him through. The fuzzy, loping, shuffling rock of 'Shock Of The New' exemplifies the band's development and is an early album highlight, along with the wonderfully hypnotic 'Line In The Sand'. The album's peak though, could well be the glorious 'Scaffolding', whose beauty hinges on a stunning contribution from female vocalist Vivien Strachan. Lyrically, the band concern themselves with the "wide-eyed terror of parenthood, wasted years, abandoned relationships and an obsession with death and suicide." But it's not all doom and gloom, as the optimistic, parental closer 'Band Of Hope' testifies. Yet to make a name for themselves live, the band are embarking on a few rare dates in November to promote the album, and if they're playing near you I'd suggest you get yourself along. You won't regret. If your ears are working properly, you'll love this.
Promising late night bedsit rock for those lone Jack Daniels' moments
author: Subba-CultchaNorthern Alliance are every inch a live band - their new album has been recorded in a loft and it shows, with professional production values but a fresh raw sound. It's like listening to a session or a soundcheck. Ironically, the group have played only 4 gigs ever - though this is all set to change. Strange, for a band who sound like they should be so at home on the stage. But this perhaps adds to the enigma of the bands contradictory nature. From start to finish, it's a weird collection of opposites - from "Start of Winter" sounding like "Split" era Lush, to the dark brooding shoegazery of "Line In The Sand", it's very hard to really get a finger on exactly where Northern Alliances… erm… alliances lie. You'd be hard pushed to find anything to mosh to here, the tempo is slow and lazy but the passion is raw and aggressive - tuneful power pop for stoners - one almost envisages early Pulp - a band with introspection and promise, with a potential to do something beyond even their own expectations. Worth having knocking around, just in case it's the precursor for something bigger. It probably won't be, but then tell that to the people who told me that "Creep" by Radiohead sounded "like bad U2". As they say themselves - "We are a band of hope".
a charm-filled album
author: Sunday MailAnything aligned with Fife's Fence Collective is worth a look. Doug Johnstone and Viv Strachan share vocals on this charm-filled album. Comparable to Sparklehorse, Will Oldham and Low, the Edinburgh band's sound is often gentle and the lyrics thoughtful. Scaffolding, Calgary and Tomb Of The Eagles stand out.
incredible mix of Spiritualised, The Monkees and The Beta Band
author: Daily RecordFor the Grains of Sand FIRST full-length album (although they've released two mini-albums) from Edinburgh's finest. It's been two years since Disaster for Scotland and boy have they moved on. Wonders of the Invisible World, while still playing their blend of psychedelic folk, is an incredible mix of Spiritualised, The Monkees and The Beta Band. Doug Johnstone, Craig Smith and Vivien Strachan could follow Snow Patrol into that emotional rock if they felt like it, but having played only four live shows in five years don't hold your breath. Catch them while you can at The Ship Tavern, Anstruther, on Sunday.
breathtaking
author: Maverick MagazineEdinburgh based band Northern Alliance are part of the loose coalition of musicians known as the Fence Collective. This is the band's third album coming over two years after the critically acclaimed Hope in Little Things (2003) and Disaster for Scotland (2004). The band consists of Craig Smith (bass, guitars, keyboards, sampler), Doug Johnstone (drums, drum machine, guitars, keyboards, sampler, vocals) and Viv Strachan (vocals). Having been consistently, in their own words, 'low-fi' on previous releases this is the band's attempts to raise their profile both in terms of music and the public. It's clear they seek higher things. It is very difficult to categorise the music as Northern Alliance genuinely don't sound like anyone else, although the closest references are Pink Floyd (Meddle period) or the Canterbury sound of Caravan et al (both of whom are undergoing a renaissance at the moment) and more contemporary bands like Sparklehorse, Arab Strap or Belle and Sebastian. The lyrics are magical and prosaic and read like poetry on the sleeve but are issued in hushed harmonies or deliberately distorted vocals, placed far down in the mix, so as to make them somewhat subsidiary to the overall sound. Northern Alliance are far too intelligent for this to be anything other than deliberate, using purposeful repetition to make the voices another instrument to be added into the sonic mix. And what a wonderful sound it is. They seem to have placed the guitar as high up the treble scale and the bass sounds as low down so as to give them full scope to fill in the rest with swathes of breathtaking sound. Tracks like the opening, gentle Wonders of the Invisible World and the following Line in the Sand set the pattern, building from a simple keyboard start into what, for Northern Alliance, is a full metal bash (that's full, not too metal and more of a smite than a bash). There are even feedback driven guitar solos, tracks using vocal distortion and disco drumming in there. How much more 'hi-fi' can you get? Stepping through the lyrics, the theme of the album seems initially one of despair - fearing for the future of their children, the Little Grains of Sands of the title, but close listening shows that there is still a feeling of hope that all may not be lost and that we are a Band of Hope as the closing track suggests. There's lots going on in this album – beautiful melodies, intelligent lyrics all set against a carefully worked out wall of sound. It's an evocative, mystical journey that grows on you each time you listen.
works of beautifully fragile optimism...a great album
author: The ListRecorded in a loft in East Lothian, this has been a slow burner of a third album for Northern Alliance, taking two years to finish, largely because members were variously doing real stuff: writing a novel, travelling, studying – having babies. Its title refers to the embryonic stages of said sprogs, although could be taken in hindsight as a reference to its own patient genesis. Or the way tracks swell and cascade so unhurriedly, into works of beautifully fragile optimism full of layered, chiming guitars and delicate vocals. Either way, it’s proof that if you have ideas, and melodies (and whisky), a great album will follow. No rush.