aaamusic | On 22, May 2011

Oh American indie rock, you do spoil us sometimes. I haven’t quite finished fawning over the new Manchester Orchestra Album, or marvelling at how Mewithoutyou have become so unbelievably influential, or wondering how the hell My Morning Jacket have become so quietly huge and then Sad Accordions drops into my inbox and reminds me that there is still so much more out there, and the best of them might be the ones that are indie in the most literal sense possible, the ones that are striking out on their own, making the music that they want to make on their own terms, and in terms of Sad Accordions, thank Christ for that, because the music on The Colours and the Kill is some of the finest I’ve heard all year, and if this is the music that they want to make then we should consider ourselves profoundly lucky.

Hailing from Texas, the band originally began as an outlet for lead singer Seth Woods’ songs before coalescing into the functioning unit you hear today. And Coalescing is the right word, this record feels like the work of the most unified group of musicians you will here this year, guaranteed. Every instrument plays off each other in the most sublime way possible, and drastic left turns in tone feel like the most natural thing in the world, as if it was born of collective intuition rather than one guy going “hey you know what would be a cool idea?” Take for example, the moment in You Can’t Hide From it where the delicate, graceful first half comes to a close with a burst of feedback and an almighty guitar riff, it is unexpected, exhilarating and utterly, utterly spellbinding.

And not the only sublime moment on the album, take the whole of storming opening track Sacrificial Chumpsucker Diatribe (song title of the year by the way) and it’s scything yet warm guitar riff, or Inside Out, which sounds like Brand New covering The La’s in the best way possible. Seriously I don’t have a bad word to say about this record, except that the band will have one hell of a job following it up, but whatever happens next we will still have The Colours and the Kill. Utterly sublime from start to finish and a stirring reminder that if we want the music that means the most to us, we have to look for it, and then maybe, just maybe, you’ll find something as worth treasuring as this.

Author: Will Howard