(Parlophone/EMI)

Wigan’s finest return

Famously dysfunctional Wigan superstars The Verve have already split up more than once, but for now the group’s fans have reason to celebrate, with the release of their first studio album since the titanic Urban Hymns. For the new record Forth, Richard Ashcroft and co have blended the two styles for which they have gained renown – the anthemic terrace pop of their last album and the psychedelic, shoegazing swirl of their earlier work. As a result, while utterly The Verve, it doesn’t really resemble any of their previous records. Ashcroft’s sweet melodies and distinctive phrasing of Urban Hymns and his solo albums are still present, instead of the disembodied echoey voice of ravishing debut A Storm In Heaven. Yet, this is also very much Nick McCabe’s album, as he re-ignites the spidery, shimmering guitarscapes of the early, more underground days. So, we get the rave-up rock of Love Is Noise, the faintly Spiritualized gospel trudge of Rather Be, the noirish mood piece Columbo and, in the eight-minute Noise Epic, the most wigged-out sound we’ve heard from The Verve since those early “Mad Richard” days. Indeed, more than half of the album’s 10 songs are over six minutes long, the group’s deliberate, jammed-out pacing effectively married to seductive, star-reaching Ashcroft melodicism.

****

MATT THROWER

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