THE BOOK OF SHIPS – DARK CONTINENT, COLD CENTURY

Sour yellow sunlight, tattered photographs, and faded linoleum. The close, sharp smell of dust and memories.  Book of Ships recorded their debut album in a disused bowling club, and these songs have a haunted quality at times.  Producer/performer d.a.calf (ex-Mousemoon) summons two types of ghost here, explores two modes: epic melancholy and angry.  “There’s still bombs being dropped on those open fields, but I’ve not yet woken up,” he sings on Broken Glass In My Mouth (Words Are Lines That Turn To), phrases tumbling out over a caffeinated motor-beat. The groove conforms to a template laid down by Interpol and The Strokes, but calf’s lyrics (“The forests are hiding in the municipal libraries”) keep things interesting, keep things real, and set him apart from the fashionistas. Bile + Vitriol’s ragged guitars and lopsided wordplay recall Gareth Liddiard’s  solo work, and on In & Out, a brittle folky melody laced with high needling guitar and falsetto vocals brings to mind an antipodean take on Sigur Ros. This is deeply personal, introspective music, recorded with great care and attention to mood.
***1/2