Even before you get to the music, there is something quintessentially English about the themes that run through Last Night Watchman’s music – everything from ideas of colonial power to fossilised footprints in a riverbed to a Reader’s Digest book from the 1950s – stories and thoughts ranging from the minutiae of life to the fabric and history of the land itself.
‘Old Blighty’ opens as a gentle, vocal-soaked, indie-folk look at colonial days and how, as such world-shaking events and the redrawing of maps took place, the day-to-day lives of most went on as usual. There is something of the sentiment of (obscure reference alert) Attila the Stockbroker’s ‘Sawdust and Empire’ found in this tale of life lived in the fading light of Britain’s imperial days. And as references go, for me it doesn’t get better than that.
‘Footprints’ heads more into chiming indie realms as it muses on the history under our feet, and ‘Get the Best out of Life’ is gently celebratory and musically lush.
By the time we get to the EP’s swansong, ‘ Towards the Sun ‘, the reflective and profound nature of the album bursts wide open. If such philosophies and mature musings have run through the core of the songs so far, here it bubbles up in a gentle yet liberating anthem of liberty and life.
I, like many, get as excited about good lyrics as I do about great music. Old Blighty has both. And as much as I love the rich and textured indie-folk textures found here, and I do, it is the lyrics that bowl me over – those relatable and profound observations that delve into every aspect of the human experience, from our historical heritage to love and loss and longing and then delving into how to make yourself happy as the world spins chaotically around us.
Five great songs: finesse folk meets indie smarts meets literary prowess, and not a misstep taken or a move out of place.
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