The picture is of a nice lawn with some people sitting on classic furniture, others standing and one reading a newspaper. That’s the first image you get of Warmrain. This album reflects the relaxed nature of the music. Delicately melodic tunes with the accompanying acoustic guitar provide a mellow framework. This album is like floating along a river on a summer’s day. In some ways it reminded me of Blackfield, the side project of Porcupine Tree’s Steven Wilson but it’s not so thought provoking as that.
My favourite song is “Absent Friends”, the title track. In fact there are two versions of it. The first is a radio edit. The song is soft and acoustic and slowly advances, rising into a nice dreamy and melancholic electric guitar section. There’s a good balance between and I preferred the full 8 minute version where there’s more time to indulge in the dreaminess, but I appreciate that there are commercial considerations. I thought there was an opportunity missed to take it a step further and have a section of light post-rock and at the same time add a dimension. I guess that’s not in the spirit of this album which doesn’t seem to be about breaking boundaries.
As for the other three tracks, “Flying Dreams” is an appropriate title for the ambiance of this 25 minute work as a whole. It’s nicely delivered and for relaxation not excitement. In fact it’s rather sleepy. “Good to Belong” and “Run to the Sun” are equally nice and unchallenging songs. Intimacy is a feature of the lyrics and music, and particularly so on “Run to the Sun”.
Personally, I found “Absent Friends” a bit bland but it’s pleasant enough. I suspect Coldplay and Blackfield fans will get a lot more out of it than I did.
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Andrew Doherty
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