Customer Reviews

Last Night Becomes This Morning

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This is a transitional album for Swearing At Motorists. They started out as a Grifters-like indie band, churning out short, slight songs, with buried vocals and bursts of noise, before moving on to the great two-minute snippets of pop on their last two albums. But live they've always been a two-piece band, guitar and drums, and only on this recording have the arrangements and production really come to reflect that.

I'm sure some listeners will be disappointed by the new sound--- these arrangements are much sparer than in the past, but to my ears, it's a welcome departure from previous tracks. Joseph Siwinski's wonderful playing helps a great deal in that regard--- his fills and flourishes are pure rock, and he still holds it down the whole time. Another change: in the past, Doughman seemed to force his voice a bit beyond its register. Here he settles into his natural baritone. Great stuff.

Like their last full-length, THIS FLAG SIGNALS GOODBYE, this album is all about a break-up. Since Doughman has spent much of his time since '02 touring Europe, the lyrics have a strong expatriate feel: "As sure as Harry will never be king | Disappointment often offers relief." "Waterloo Crescent" really typifies the overseas content of much of these lyrics. It's sort of the lovers' riposte to the Kinks's classic "Waterloo Sunset": jaunty, spirited, carefree, public, as when Doughman tells his girlfriend that she's "...Laughing 'bout the night before | Smiling like you want some more | Of what's got you laughing." This is probably the happiest song S@M have recorded, and certainly one of their best; but true to form, the rest of the album spirals downward as the lovers head for a break-up, drug-use and distance (caused by touring) seeming to be the main culprits. "Suicide on the Installment Plan" sums up the twin problems neatly in its only lyric: "Your way of life | Is getting in the way of your life."