It is good to see a band stretch themselves and return to the ways of old to do an actual album just like they used to back in the days when records spun around and profits were there to be made. Eastern Swell – and Edinburgh band previously known as Lainie and The Crows – seem to have taken this approach with their new album “One Day A Flood” likely to generate some enthusiasm from those who worship times gone but not forgotten.
Certainly, this album is redolent of what a midrange rock band would have produced before Joe Strummer and Johnny Rotten were hailed as the new messiahs with “1000 Yard Stare”, in particular, having the poise to posture in major chords with the best of them. “Temples”, likewise, has emotional depth to spare and that allows the song to escape the confines that pretension might otherwise have brought down on Eastern Swell.
On the downside, however, is the flat and muffled sound that kills, and kills stone dead, the delicacy inherent in Lainie Urquhart’s voice and entirely mutes the post rock power that is so characteristic of Chris Reeve’s guitar work. All that good work spoiled, as they say, by the proverbial ha’port of tar.