The New Industrial Ballads
Turntable Friends, 2019
10/10
Listen to The New Industrial Ballads
A long running English outfit whose early years coincided and were influenced by The Jam, The Kink and The Smiths, here The Claim return with their first new recordings since 1992 that are distinctly their own brand of Brit-pop.
“Johnny Kidd’s Right Hand Man” gets the album started with brief acoustic strumming and warm horns, before “Journey” brings us a louder setting with a full pop-rock template where a anthemic folk spirit is present.
At 14 tracks there’s much to digest here, but with plenty of variety on hand, The Claim never run the same course twice. While “Smoke & Screens” recruits an orchestral backdrop to the affair, “The Haunted Pub” is a bright, jangly moment of punchy pop sounds. Further on, “Light Bending” offers us retro-folk ideas in an upbeat highlight, and “When The Morning Comes” finds a lush, environment of careful instrumentation.
The second half of the record is where some of the best tracks reside, including the hazy, cinematic “Gamma Rays”, the tense and rhythmic “Mrs. Jones”, and the soft and agile picking of “Under Canvas”, which yields plenty of poetic beauty.
It’s been 3 decades since The Claim released their debut, and The New Industrial Ballads proves that they’re only getting better with age, as evidenced by its near perfection. Make sure not to miss this one- it’s going to be one of the best in 2019.
Travels well with: Blur- Parklife; Paul Weller- 22 Dreams