Product Description

Led by songwriter Fyfe Dangerfield, the melodic indie misfits Guillemots second LP 'Red' retains their buoyant optimismand instrumental prowess, but introduces a new-found confidence. Lead single 'Get Over It' is a prime example of this, as are several other more exuberant tracks on this release. Recorded mostly in an East London synagogue and co-produced (alongside the band) by U2 collaborator Adam Noble, 'Red' isan album of pure, attention-grabbing pop songs that marks adirectional departure for its authors.

Track Listing

1. Kriss Kross
2. Big Dog
3. Falling Out Of Reach
4. Get Over It
5. Clarion
6. Last Kiss
7. Cockateels
8. Words
9. Standing On The Last Star
10. Don't Look Down
11. Take Me Home
12. Get Over It

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #975 in Music
• Released on: 2008-03-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Running time: 55 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
It can be difficult to know how to condition yourself as a Guillemots fan. First there was Through the Windowpane, a great English pop record full of classy melodrama and widescreen elation, then there were the wilfully eccentric live shows, known to descend into mind-boggling bouts of freeform jazz bombast. And now there is Red, yet another altogether different dragon. You can talk about forcing a square where a circle should be, but this is more like teasing a dodecahedron through a drinking straw. And yet with slick feline agility they somehow wriggle through with little resistance. To get a measure of the differences, penultimate track "Don't Look Down" is one of a few that holds a torch for the first record, leading in with the keyboard twinkles and filmic slow pace, but implodes midway like a fully-laden milk float combusting, and comes out the other side like the Annie cast on helium set to a drum 'n' bass beat. Amazingly, it's as palatable as ever. But that's just for starters. "Kriss Kross" is the hitherto undiscovered melding point between 2Unlimited (of brief 90s techno infamy) and The New Radicals' chiming pop, "Big Dog" is bright lights arena R&B, robotic seduction with a Jacko scream at its heart, "Get over It" is glittery, steroid pumped modern glam and "Last Kiss" is Tubular Bells with distorted bass funnelled into a rave anthem. The whole album's a curveball, but the quality of the songs is undimming and maybe we just got a little closer to discovering what Guillemots quintessentially are. Or maybe not. --James Berry

Customer Reviews

Gets better with every listen
Gorgeous rich sound - very similar to the accoustics when I went to see the band play live at the Southampton Guildhall - that may be due to the location where the album was recorded. Unpredictable melodies and key changes make this a wonderfully challenging listen and something of an emotional rollercoaster. So grown-up that poppy hits like "Get Over It" seem almost too simplistic and commercial. Awesome musicianship and highly versatile vocals. Definitely my album of the year! If you like this, check out Elbow's "Seldom Seen Kid".

A reason of dissapoint
A simply poor albúm. I buy this and regreat. I send It to the trash.

Unique
What do you get, if you put together a bunch of well educated and driven musicians - among others an extremely gifted singer/songwriter who happens to be slightly mad? You get - ta-dah - Guillemots!

This is most certainly not easy listening, although there are actually songs on this album with hit potential. This is quick shifts, unexpected turns, wonderful surprises and grand, almost epic arrangements. This is pop-rock-jazz-musical-funk-folk-ethnic - with a twist! So you really have to keep an open mind in order to stand it. But if you can do that, you're in for a very special treat.

As many have already noted, this album is a grower. There are a few songs that catches on immediately, but most of them take a little while to sink in. Don't worry, though: They will! And when you've been captivated by the sound, you'll start to notice the lyrics and discover yet another treat.

There may be a song of two on "Red" that are no more than average, but that is acceptable considering that several of them actually deserve more than five stars.

I really belive, that I'll still be listening to this album in ten, twenty, thirty years from now.