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MUSIC REVIEW
Band: Cranes
Album: "Particles and Waves"
Label: Daedophonic
Cranes Still Soar
New Album Out End of September: Particles and Waves [Manifesto]
Tour to Follow in the Spring
By Amy Steele
One of the UK's most innovative and intriguing bands have returned after several year's with a new album, Particles and Waves. Cranes have the solid core of the brother and sister duo of singer/songwriter Ali Shaw and musician Jim Shaw. The band has been together since 1988, the line-up changed in 2000 after a three year break.
"We've become more atmospheric, with a quieter sound. Of course, we're totally different people than we were ten years ago and it's reflected in our music," Ali Shaw," explained in her angelic voice when she called me from home over the weekend from her home in the UK. "We would have to be stuck in a time warp to be writing in the same way. We are feeling things differently then we were back then. The writing is different because we are more comfortable and at the same time less comfortable because how long can a group keep doing what we are doing? That gives us more of an edge. We were frenetic when we first started because we were so nervous like jumping off a cliff and now we're more laid back. There are lots of layers and try not to be one sound and that's it. We've used diff. instrumentation over the course of diff. albums and sometimes there's a lot of space so every moment isn't crammed full of stuff so there's a peaceful moment."
In 2001, Cranes created its own label Daedophonic.
"After many years of being on major labels, it was time for some independence. This is a focused way of doing music. Running the label is more of a practical thing. It makes sense to be aware of what is happening to us and to be in charge of your own shit and to keep things going from an external position. We are only interested in writing and recording. Since the 90's there have been many changes in the music industry as many groups record on their own equipment. It's easier to do it on your own. When it first started you couldn't exist without a certain amount of publicity."
What inspires you?
"Sometimes a few chords, sometimes something that happens to you or to someone you know or a strong feeling you know or a fear or a hope or something you read. Different albums have had different subject matter: how things that happen out there in wider universe can sometimes happen in your own head or in your own tiny world (those that happen on a tiny scale). All fictionalized. Not direct comparisons. Just little stories.
Sometimes I create characters and it's not so much about me on this album. I was reading books about the physical universe and our cover design is inspired by Dutch designers who interpreted that theme. The ideas of time, space and the theory of relativity caught by interest. For example on the song "Vanishing Point," Jim used audio fade to make sound disappear and I related it to the point in a relationship when everything is going well and suddenly that disappears."
Cranes music layers unexpected arrangements and sounds and combines Ali's uplifting, light voice. The songs aren't always about uplifting topics. The combination of darkness and light and opposite forces makes the music so rare and so fresh and so appealing to the listener. You find something new in it each time you listen.
"We hopefully cover new ground in ways we haven't before. Jim actually creates his own samples by combining different things and wants to experiment with sound."
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