Unbelievable Truth
Almost Here
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Unbelievable Truth
Almost Here
Virgin, 1998
RiYL: Radiohead's OK Computer, Red House Painters' Songs For A Blue Guitar, The Verve's A Northern Soul |
To Unbelievable Truth's credit, it has made an album that stands on its own merits without obviously referencing the now vastly influential Radiohead. Yorke's voice definitely resembles his elder brother's on a host of Almost Here's 11 songs, but expectations to the contrary would be unrealistic.
That said, Almost Here makes good on a less-is-more approach, barely rising above rock volume and instead operating on the fringes of electric folk. In fact, subtle piano, violin and cello accompaniment add as much to the album as the regular instruments do. This is a depressing record (imagery includes drowning, extreme fear, etc.), but an endearing one as well.
"Stone" is a high point, making excellent use of slight dynamic shifts to convey Yorke's broken-hearted confessional. Indeed, Yorke's constant self-doubt would come off contrived if it weren't for the accompanying morose music. "Forget About Me" is Almost Here's biggest gut-wrencher, sporting lines such as "Traitors to the open-hearted / Consign me to my fate."
The band's more "full" songs bear the most overt Radiohead similarities. With its impassioned chorus and lyrics such as "Every move I make is phony / And every word I say is lies," "Settle Down" recalls a number of Radiohead b-sides. Opening track "Solved" wouldn't sound out of place at the end of OK Computer, floating into your sad heart with tear-stained chord changes and Yorke's solemn vocal delivery.
Unbelievable Truth realizes that if you're going to be depressing, be depressing with all your might. Color me convinced. Fine job mates, and pass me a Kleenex.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"