As if intent on beating Robert Pollard for the prolific badge, John Andrew Frederick marches The Black Watch through 21 songs on the newest record. For All The World is suffused with tunes, maybe too many. The fact that it doesn't wear out its welcome is testament to Frederick's way with a turn of phrase or smart hook.
"Surely You Rally", the lead single, is built around a figure that sounds a little like New Order or Editors, while the faintest hint of Beach Boys-y harmonies accent the otherwise post-punk vibe. Elsewhere, the gorgeous "Not for Us" is all strings and "Your Silent Face" nods behind John Andrew Frederick's measured and lovely vocals. At his very best here, John Andrew Frederick has a unique skill for blending ringing guitars like something from a Wire Train record in the early Eighties with the kind of surging music acts like Electronic and Kitchens of Distinction served up in the Nineties. The tunes are fairly bright, though the lyrics and John's delivery hint at deeper meanings. When a guitar solo opens up in the elegant "Lord Marchpane", it's a rush, the moment when the vocals and instruments sort of coalesce, machine-like, around the galloping heart of the composition. It's one of many tracks here which reveal that while Frederick might, like every songwriter, have perfected a sort of formula, it's the embellishments where the magic really happens. And John is very skilled at understanding which each number needs, and -- more importantly -- how not to overdo it.
Am I really praising him for not overdoing it when we're talking about a double album? Yeah, well maybe I am. For All The World is long but it's still shorter than Tommy, and thankfully not saddled with some central concept, or story, or something. There's variety in the expanses of the record though, with the second half having a lightness at times that's really engaging. When the airy "The Knife Cliche" segues into the wonderfully-titled "Hope Davis' Face", you almost feel as if you could digest another 21 compositions from Frederick's pen.
If I call this chamber pop, readers of this site should know what I mean, though the term tends to suggest something mannered. And if John Andrew Frederick is mannered, it doesn't hurt the music's emotional pull. The material here is as loyal to its creator's distinctive gifts as any record by Lloyd Cole or Luke Haines ever was. And -- thank God for this! -- John Andrew Frederick still knows his way around an actual hook or melody, so comparisons to the prolific but sputtering-on-fumes Pollard and his troops will not work here. A surprisingly nimble hour-plus offering, For All The World is thoroughly enjoyable, and highly recommended.
For All The World by The Black Watch is out on Friday from ATOM Records.
[Photo: Sara Minsavage-Bullock]