All these things that you don’t know. It seems so much better that way
Straight into it…… The Remote Part by Idlewild opens with, “You Held the Word in Your Arms” consisting of catchy chords and seemingly aiming for popularity. If that was the entire album I would have liked it but not been compelled to grace this website reviewing it. Catchy and popular alone can still mean a great album. Often, in music there seems to be a inclination to dismiss such albums as mainstream. I once used to agree but agree no longer.
The remote part is versatile in its tracks with a range of emotions contained within. The tracks, “I am what I am not” and “A modern way of letting go” has a shitload of anger seemingly directed at someone. Crash bang thump sounds with touch of the frantic with lead singer Roddy Womble moving between monotone delivery and some screaming. Very metalish if you had to throw a genre at it.
Whereas songs like, “Live in a Hiding Place” and “Tell me 10 words” are more gentle in their execution showing accoustic openings and self reflective lyrics .
Both of the above two tracks are immediately followed by more crash bang thump but in a good way. You could almost dismiss the album as a throwaway on first listen but if you give it a couple of spins when pissed off yourself one day then a different light is cast on the tracks. The cd kinda reminds me of a person, who on first meeting, is all swagger and bravado but after a while you realise there is a soft and interesting side to them. There you have The Remote Part by Idlewild. No pretension whatsoever but still clever.
Most effective listened very loud and perfect for a cd that sounds cool at a party just before you put on The Best of the Carpenters.