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Dry the River - Alarms in the Heart

  • Written by  Georga Felcey

 

With their debut album Shallow Bed released almost two years ago, Dry the River have returned with Alarms in the Heart, a thankfully deserving follow up to such a powerful predecessor. 

Alarms in the Heart sees the band go from five to four with the departure of Violinist William Harvey and a more collective approach to songwriting, crafting the songs in partnership with each other unlike Shallow Bed, which was predominantly songs written by Lead Vocalist Peter Liddle in the years before Dry the River was born.

Recorded in Iceland, the album has a more electric and layered sound compared to the stripped back themes of the last but the angelic choir boy vocals remain. The religious connotations and links still linger throughout the album as highlighted in single and first track written for the album, ‘Gethsamane’, which shares it’s name with a garden in Jerusalem which is said to be the place Jesus prayed and the disciples slept, the night before the crucifixion of Jesus. This track is a perfect example of the levels on which the band dance between, taking a delicate lick and gentle echoing vocals up to ballad-like, powerful projections, something they have always mastered, blurring the lines between genre and forging their own style.

Track three on the album ‘Roman Candle’ features guest vocals by The Delgados' Emma Pollock, a perfect compliment to the already ethereal, male vocals. ‘Roman Candle’ is followed by ‘Med School’ the stand out song of the album, a lift in pace and slightly more youthful and fun feeling to any previous releases. Before the band were signed Peter Liddle was at Med School himself, so the song is presumably based somewhat on something from this part of his life as he sings “I ain’t got no reason, hanging round the library ‘cause I sure as hell ain’t reading, but you might sit bedside me”. The song takes a slightly different approach to story telling in song writing, with more colloquial and relaxed terms as apposed to the more formal and old fashioned strings of carefully selected and often biblical words. The song ignites the remembrance of those tickling feelings of infatuation and romance from a tender perspective.

After having to wait what feels like a long time for this album, it is such a relief that Alarms in the Heart is as progressed, well crafted and important as anyone could have hoped for, almost cementing the suspicions that Dry the River are a meaningful necessity that once you have heard is hard to conquer with anything else, into fact. If there were any doubts that the band couldn't create something as thoughtful and narrative as Shallow Bed, Alarms in the Heart has definitely defeated them.

Alarms in the Heart is released on 25th August and is available for preorder on iTunes here.

 

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