reviewer: Paul Chapinal
Email this album review Printable version You can rely on an artist to use a trauma in their life to inspire them. Break-ups are a good source and generally give the author the opportunity to get behind a piano, or go acoustic, and lament the collapse of a relationship to anyone who will listen. Usually these are about people breaking-up but in Cheri MacNeil?s case it is the loss of her faith and a belief system that appears to have almost totally ruled the early years of her life. This, and an amicable split with her musical partner, has to some extent fuelled the writing of Idealistic Animals. The themes behind the album are complex and at times highly personal; so it can sound alienating. The opening track FOX (Take Your Chances) (All the songs are named after animals.) is a case in hand. It?s a moving but disconcerting listen; the sparse instrumentation and arrangements rarely come to the fore, leaving MacNeil?s voice to carry the song. A complete contrast to MONKEY (You Can Go Home) which is a bit of a roller. EARTHWORM (All Hail Our Ailing Mother) is a lovely, moving song, gliding on percussion and bass.
Up to this point the despite the break-up theme, the album does have an oddly playful ambiance ? in particular the lyrics ? about it, and one can?t help wondering if the band are actually having a laugh at our expense.
That air of fun is blown midway through by the title track, MAN (Idealistic Animals). A sombre piece built on a drum and piano intro with chants and strings seguing in, the song continuously builds but doesn?t quite reach the crashing finale one would expect, it rather just reduces and peters out and is all the more effective for that.
After that the album basically gets back into its former groove. BEAR (Young?s Done In) bumps along on little more than the drums, though as with most of the other songs there?s lot going on in the background. A feature of the album is that at times it sounds as if they have chucked in whatever seems to have been lying around in the studio. Sometimes it works, othertimes its just irritating as on WHALE (BooHoo).
The crystalline production brings out all the performances and especially the beauty and delicacy of Cheri MacNeil?s voice. The band does sound as if they are playing to satisfy themselves which under the circumstances is understandable, but that doesn?t make it impenetrable. Having said that it could be that people will grow to admire this album rather than form a real attachment to it.
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