Aereogramme Reviews
Aereogramme - QMU, Glasgow by MICHAEL MACLENNAN
The QMU is twitching in anticpiation of a farewell that seems to have come far too soon, allowing one of the finest bands Scotland has produced only nine years of existence. Aereogramme still have some more shows to perform abroad, as well as a final perfromance at the Connect festival at Inverary Castle in September, but this is their goodbye to their hometown Glasgow, and so it's hardly surprising that it's a performance packed with emotion.
They come out with a typical lack of fuss and launch straight into The Question Is Complete, the first song off debut album A Story In White. Slabs of grinding guitars shifting like tectonic plates under the fragile, lamenting vocals of Craig B, it's the kind of collision between bleakly beautiful melodies and overwhelming, deafening distortion that the band excel at, and provide with clinical perfection during the set.
The quartet's sound is fleshed out by the addition of a keyboardist, which helps enhance the epic breadth of more recent songs such as Conscious Life For Coma Boy and A Life Worth Living, with a melancholy majesty emerging that's all the more poignant given the occasion. They finish with A Meaningful Existence, its initial delicacy suffused by the driving drums of Martin Scott.
Of course, an encore follows, with the stark, heart-wrenching A Simple Process Of Elimination leading into a greatest hits set that sees a perversely triumphant take on Yes and the thrillingly fast-paced, thrusting momentum of of Zionist Timing. Craig B seems taken aback at the chorus of boos that greets his confirmation that "this is our farewell", but it's hardly surprising. Aereogramme are a band going out on an exceptional high.
Finale Shouting For Joey is a short, sharp burst of mordant metal, lunging forth with screaming, sprawling wild-eyed abandon. Even more so than before, the end feels far too soon.
My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go
The first words you hear on this exquisite album are "a potent mix of wonder and fear", which is a good description of how Aerogramme sound. The Glaswegians' music is enormous and epic, but with spiky edges and an intangible sense of creeping dread: the musical equivalent of gazing at a beautiful snowscape, knowing that any second, an avalanche could fall. Everything has been as lovingly crafted as a child's snowman, from the military drumming and glorious use of strings, choirs and pianos, to Craig B's stunning, heartfelt vocals.
There are elements of everything from Radiohead to Sigur Rós and even the shimmering beauty of the Cocteau Twins, yet their sharp songwriting conjures up Snow Patrol with less obvious strokes. However, they don't lack killer hooks. Barriers and A Life Worth Living suggest Aerogramme should be filling stadiums, too. 4/5 | The Guardian
Sleep And ReleaseHere and there - on 'Yes' and on the howling 'Wood' - they're as inventive as one of the great lost bands of the 90's The God Machine, combining almost unbearable noise with melody and passages of complex experimentation. This is an album that contains multitudes and you're missing out if you don't dive in. THE BIG ISSUE
The beauty in Aereogramme's music is their confounding, bold use of understated, beautiful melodies and fusing them with the kind of sounds a social worker would be compelled to report. Brilliant. KKKK | KERRANG
Aereogramme are amongst the elite of British bands. Their debut album, 'A Story In White', was an affecting storm of emotions and this improved follow-up is conclusive proof of their profound ability to entangle noise and melody with beauty and depth. 4/5 | THE FLY
A Story In White
“Truly awe inspiring. If you’re not hooked on the first listen, then you will be by the second or third...altogether, a refined and quietly majestic masterpiece” 4½/5 | Rock Sound’s Album of the Month September, 2001
“Aereogramme consistently transform calm into mayhem and fury back into restraint without any surface glitches or overlap....ambitious musicians - the best post-rock album in the world…ever” 4/5 | The List
“Writing better songs than anyone else in UK rock music today – Absolutely essential” 9/10 | Metal Hammer
“Akin to Travis and Nirvana in a razor-wielding suicide pact with Joy Division”
“(Aereogramme) are as avant-garde and enigmatic as guitar mongering gets” KKKK | Kerrang
“Guitar rock with synthesized sounds in innovative, beguiling ways” London Evening Standard
“They are utterly convincing. This unlikely threesome are rising stars”
“Aereogramme offer more bangs for your buckfast than most indie hopefuls” NME
Water Rats, London 15.11.06 - Scottish Post-Rockers Showcase Majestic New Material
They may be famed for their loud-quiet-loud approach on record but it's nothing compared to the gargantuan sound Aereogramme emit onstage. Tonight the Glasgow outfit sound bigger than ever as they treat a rowdy Water Rats crowd to tracks from their forthcoming album and unveil a new member, adding shimmering pianos, soaring backing vocals and sweeping strings to their menacing soundscapes.
After a two year absence people are predictably pleased to see the beardy bunch, particularly since they seem to be on the best form of their career, new songs 'A Life Worth Living' and 'Living Backwards' receiving as warm a reception as the older material. While bassist Campbell McNeil shakes his long locks in time to demonic basslines and swigs from a bottle of wine, the rest of the band stay stoic apart from vocalist Craig B who seems genuinely thrilled at fans' reactions as he confidently switches from sweet vocals to guitars and percussion, with oodles of witty banter in-between.
It's set closer 'Post-Tour, Pre-Judgement' which draws the biggest cheer, however, provoking a mass singalong before a climax of ragged guitars, thundering rhythms and blood-curdling screams sets the venue's chandeliers shaking - the perfect finale to an inspirational return. KKKKK | Kerrang
Water Rats, London 15.11.06
Tonight was always going to be Aereogramme's night. "It's fucking great to see you", announces shiny-bonced vocalist Craig B after opening number 'Barriers'. He may not realise it, but that's exactly what most audience members are thinking. It's been far too long since the band's last London visit, and with the promise of material from forthcoming third album 'My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go', an intimate evening with a bunch of bearded Scotsmen has never looked so inviting. Although the new songs lack the bipolar moodswings of old (i.e. there aren't any shouty bits), they are just as powerful and dynamic, exhibiting the a greater reliance on lush, multi-layered arrangements.
Bolstered by new keyboardist Martin Doherty, Aereogramme's sound has become bigger, richer and more stirring than ever before. In true 'Gramme tradition, 'A Life Worth Living' and 'Living Backwards' are both achingly beautiful and eerily sinister, while the intensely hummable aforementioned 'Barriers', featuring Craig B's triumphant declaration of "I've found love", is the closest they've ever got to an upbeat pop song. Old favourite 'Post-Tour, Pre-Judgement' brings things to a typically cathartic climax, as as the band exit the stage to rapturous applause, they leave Rock Sound with the feeling that we have witnessed something truly special. Rock Sound