Battle For Prague
“Car, Boat, Plane”


http://www.myspace.com/battleforprague

After seemingly universal great reviews and a couple of months living with it ‘The Neon Bible’ is still duller than the sun in a couple of million year’s time. Especially since ‘Funeral’ is one of the best albums of whatever we’re cleverly naming this decade. Noughties, is it?

There’s a reason behind my Arcade Fire rant. Battle For Prague show them exactly how to create understated beauty without the pretension and tedium. Not much seems to happen and you’d be hard pressed to find a highlight but these songs just work perfectly within themselves.

Lead track ‘Car/Plane/Boat’ is sensational. It’s subtle and moving, the singer sounds as if his heart has been broken so many times it’s pieced together by paperclips. When he yelps “I haven’t slept for weeks” it’s an insight to how Christian Bale would have sounded in ‘The Machinist’ if he was as good at writing songs as he was losing weight.

‘They’re All The Same’ has the same mixture of fragile guitars and delicate drums. Clearly a band that aren’t afraid to bear their soul, head straight to their myspace and join the Battle For Prague.

 

Graham Emmerson