Release Date: Jan 31, 2012
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Indie Electronic
Record label: Rock Action
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Control does funny things to people. Held in the wrong hands, it's a murderous swine of a power. The annals of history are peppered with examples of how it can be taken to the most extreme levels; where lateral thought and common decency are overthrown by a fug of totalitarianism and self importance. And that's just modern day traffic wardens.
ErrorsHave Some Faith In Magic[Rock Action; 2012]By Gareth O'Malley; January 31, 2012Purchase at: Insound (Vinyl) | Amazon (MP3 & CD) | iTunes | MOGTweet'Pop' is not a dirty word, despite what some of you may think. It has connotations of music that is flimsy, throwaway and easily-discarded; but on the flip side there is the notion that 'pop' music is the most immediate and accessible form of music there is. In that respect, then, the third album from Glasgow's Errors is a 'pop' album.
When it comes to OG status in a stratified zone like post-rock, it doesn’t get much colder than being signed to Mogwai’s label. The fellow Scotland four-piece Errors are responsible for a couple well-liked electro-brushed post-rock records with a bright, danceable demeanor. Unlike their labelheads, Errors have always seemed willing to make colorful, pretty things – floaty, low-stakes dance-rock.
There was once a belief that, at some point in the future, there’ll be no songs left to write. Both sceptics and theorists believed that, at some point around the end of the 20th century (for it was the sceptics and theorists of the 1970s that believed this), we’ll simply run out of new songs. This is a somewhat bizarre idea, considering that despite there only being a limited number of chords, and, thusly, a limited number of chord sequence combinations available, music and music composition has been with us for hundreds of years – and has shown no signs of ceasing to evolve.
Signed to Mogwai's Rock Action label, experimental four-piece Errors have often been regarded as the pretenders to their fellow Glaswegians' post-rock throne. However, their third album, Have Some Faith in Magic, suggests that they're now fully equipped to step out of their celebrated bosses' shadows. The follow-up to 2010's cleverly titled Come Down with Me still centers on their ability to create sprawling and richly textured soundscapes, but it's very much a warmer and less abrasive affair, with several nods toward the '80s synth pop scene and a newfound penchant for vocals, albeit distant and largely unintelligible ones, which lend the likes of the early Depeche Mode-esque melancholy of "Blank Media" and the analog cosmic pop of "Magna Encarta" a more melodic edge.
Let’s make something clear straight off the bat. I have been a pretty big fan of Errors from the first time I heard 2008’s Salut! France and have followed them ever since. Slowly but surely, as many compatriots in the similar synth ‘n guitars mould have fallen by the wayside, Errors have continued to less blaze a trail but rather carve a niche for themselves, in no small way abetted by their rigorous touring schedule which will undoubtedly have picked up fans along the way.
[a]Errors[/a]’ 2010 album ‘Come Down With Me’ proved even the boldest of bands aren’t immune from coming unstuck the second time round. They gamely pushed on with their electro-exploration, but failed to recapture the wondrous essence of their debut, falling prey to the perennial post-rock tendency to believe that making music doesn’t allow for having fun. Thank the heavens, then, that ‘Have Some Faith In Magic’ sees them unbuttoning those stiff top-collars and delivering some of their finest pop bangers to date.
During the months leading up to the release of Errors‘ third album, Have Some Faith in Magic, most of the anticipation has focused on the Glaswegian quartet’s reportedly non-instrumental pop shift. However, the notion that Errors have now “gone pop” is a disservice to the band. For starters, pop tends to be a disparaging statement over a perceived transition towards accessibility.
On their third album, Errors muster all of their electro-rock might to create a record that is brimming with magic moments. From the off it sounds big. ‘Tusk’ opens the album with a weighty riff before a synth lines launches it into a serious groove. The construction of the track and balance of the instruments is superb, as it is with so many of the songs on ‘Have Some Faith In Magic’.
A great third LP which sounds like the work of a band hitting its peak. Reef Younis 2012 The critical success of Errors’ gloomy, pulsating 2008 debut LP, It's Not Something But It Is Like Whatever, could have been the catalyst for the Scottish electro-indie ("post-electro," says Wikipedia) four-piece to unleash a rapid-fire succession of releases exploiting the bubbling momentum surrounding them. But rather than rest on their laurels, Errors pressed on with furthering their sound and, following a touring schedule that’d punish the most wanderlust-possessed act, the rich ambition of Come Down With Me arrived.
The official line on Errors' third album is that the Glaswegian quartet have shed the 'post-rock' label and have made an unabashed pop album, rich in melody and making extensive use of vocals for the first time. Vocals, of course, are more important in a pop record than in a 'post-rock' one; the pop fan likes to have something to sing along with, likes a memorable phrase for a hookline, and even likes to have a vague idea of what a song is about (love, sex and dancing, preferably). So is this a new, accessible, easy-to-digest Errors we see before us? Well, everything is relative and nothing more so than the nebulous concept of 'pop.
Being an instrumental band from Glasgow that aren't Mogwai means there might be some obvious comparisons, especially if they happen to be signed to Mogwai's Rock Action label. Yet Errors have managed to carve themselves a little niche where they've already made two rather enjoyable albums. Album number three, Have Some Faith In Magic, sees them continuing to play around with synth-laden tracks, but they've added some vocals into the mix.
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