The Footage
The Summit Of Mount Everest Is Marine Limestone
Monday 19th of April 2010
The Footage, as you may have guessed from this record's title, are a bit of an arty band. However, while maintaining its high-brow intellectualism, The Summit Of Mount Everest Is Marine Limestone is also a really good British rock record.
'The Blue Handshake' is the misdirecting a cappella introduction, which brings to mind The Flying Pickets for a brief one and a half minutes. It is actually a very good song, but it doesn't reflect the mostly indie-fied guitar based record you are about to enter.
It's the smouldering guitar of 'Down To Lie' that draws me into the song. It strums and plucks every hook in the song, creating a real point of focus.
'Thing Is' is a steady downbeat track, which could probably notch up a slightly sparkier pace without losing its emotive feel. It leads effortlessly into the piano and string interlude of 'The Sky That Wasn't God'.
Things pick up again a bit in 'One Last Chance' and get back on form for 'Reminiscence On Behalf Of The Species', which sees the guitar getting back to its most interesting.
'Everest' is the track that lends its lyrics to the album title, and it is true that the highest summit in the world does indeed contain limestone with fossil evidence of sea creatures. There are some strong strings in this track and a bit of chop and change with some backing vocals.
The guitars get another fine outing in 'The Hampstead Blues', which features a big solo amongst some piano-decorated indie rhythms.
'Late Pastoral' is practically jolly compared to most of the other songs, bouncing along right the way through to 'Night Seriously', which features many of the aspects mentioned previously, but combined into something of a reprise.
There are some surprisingly haunting piano notes leading 'China and Africa Meet'. The whispered vocal adds to the ghostly feel as the white noise builds gently throughout the song.
'Shatterments' is a pacey rocker with toasty guitars and a crisp beat. Despite being at the tail end of the album, this song is really rather good, notching up the most straightforward rock-out on the record.
It all comes to a close with 'Croc Sobs', which is a quirky acoustic song with poetic lyrics and plaintive melody. It offers and unexpected, but tender ending to an epic album.
They do sometimes dwell on a song a little longer than they ought to, this isn't a problem for tracks like 'Down To Lie', which have plenty to keep you interested, but some other songs would benefit from a slight trim.
The lyrics are one aspect of this band that make them a bit deeper than most bands out there. Another thing they've got right is the flow of songs, with many a clever segue to bridge the gap between tracks.
Author: Steve
Label: Self-Released
Found in: Record Reviews
Official Rating
We rated this record 3.5 out of 5.