The Longcut have been about for a while, their powerful, restless romanticism always seemingly capable of propelling them to something bigger. Maybe they’ve managed to find a door opener in tracks like Open Hearts, Repeated and Boom. They deserve more.
The Longcut – Open Hearts
http://www.thelongcut.com/ http://www.melodic.co.uk/ http://www.konkurrent.nl/
Imperious stuff this, drawing on (indeed revelling) in that passive/aggressive, windswept, introspective romance that Manchester (& Lancashire) bands seem to favour. The opener Out At the Roots is at you before you have time to settle, the stentorian message “We’re gonna tear this poison out at the roots” thrown out as a challenge over a clattering, slightly dissonant sound-scape, one that isn’t a million miles away from the Verve’s early-90s sonic template.
This rangy, romantic slightly incantatory music never gives a moments respite throughout the LP. It’s all very ‘Heathcliffe’ at times, especially the opening three tracks; Out At the Roots, Something Inside, and Tell You So, which give off the very powerful feeling of angry young men pacing their bedrooms. Still, when they give vent to their inherent pop sensibilities, they are a very formidable proposition indeed. Evil Dance has a touch of the New Orders about it, whereas Open Hearts is, (in my books, anyway), a distant, younger cousin of the Chameleon’s Tears.
The Longcut have been about for a while, their powerful, restless romanticism always seemingly capable of propelling them to something bigger. Maybe they’ve managed to find a door opener in tracks like Open Hearts, Repeated and Boom. They deserve more.
Words: Richard Foster