Sickoakes – ‘Seawards’ (Type) Released 20/03/06

'Seawards' opens with ‘Driftwood’- hidden voices, a smattering of echoing piano and an off-kilter strangled guitar evoking images of an abandoned pub taken over by the ghosts of sailors. Evocative is definitely the word for Sickoakes world. Playing a kind of cinematic widescreen rock, its like Pink Floyd cast adrift on ‘Echoes’. It often occurs how much of an innovative guitarist The Edge is and his influence looms large here - all refractions and echoplex but with none of the pompous posturing and piss-poor politics that spews forth from the mouth of that arsehole, we all know who we’re talking about.

Sickoakes are a six piece based in Stockholm and the album is based on a narrative, serving as ‘lonely’ photographs of the band’s travels in the Eastern Bloc. Tunes build and fade- occasional vocal snippets - snatches of conversation creep in unexpectedly. The epic scope does threaten to undermine the whole though - alarm bells ring at the start of the 10 minutes of ‘Oceans on Hold’ which uncomfortably kicks in over-pompous - its just too BIG, but then surprisingly, the guitar slows a little, noise builds from underneath and as more instruments circle and swoop, the tune takes on an unexpected warmth. Then more voices and, I’m gobsmacked: pulled back from the brink, the song spends a languid 5 minutes ebbing out on a groove- just truly marvellous.

Part 1 of ‘Wedding Rings and Bullets in the Same Golden Shrine’ could be Gavin Bryars’ ‘Raising The Titanic’ played by a rock band (which is kind of apt of course). The 23 minutes of Part 2 are just stunning reaching a ferocious peak of noise before fading out on a truly bizarre ambient drift with subdued Morse code feedback. The album ends just beautifully with the fragile, plaintive ‘Leonine’ as Sickoakes finally join the ghosts invoked on the opener. A bolt from the (deep) blue and a total triumph.