Postcards from a Young Man
3/5
And so to the 10th album from the Welsh trio. From anarchic trailblazers to chart-topping, lighter-lit rock refrainmakers, last year’s Journal for Plague Lovers saw James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore tackle the final folder of lyrics and scribblings left by guitarist Richey Edwards before his 1995 disappearance, immortalising the last of his powerful words to music. Where Journal… began with the malevolent pulse of ‘Peeled Apples’, opener and first single for Postcards… ‘(It’s Not War) Just the End of Love’ instantly sets the album’s tone: the Manics sound reinvigorated, uplifted. Unabashedly bolstered by swooping strings, Bradfield’s vocal (and guitar solo) is jubilant.
‘Some Kind of Nothingness’ is similarly poignant and at peace in the face of memories – Echo And The Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch adding extra vocals alongside the blustery gospel choir. Their glossy brand of orchestral bombast (‘Hazelton Avenue’, ‘The Descent’) and the extraneous soloing (‘All We Make Is Entertainment’) is overcooked and in spite of Moore’s warm trumpet blasts, Wire’s flat, awkward vocals and hapless cowbell twonks relegate ‘The Future Has Been Here 4 Ever’ to clunker status. Still, the John Cale-assisted ‘Auto-Intoxication’ contains elements of Holy Bible-era Manics in Bradfield’s lower, angst fuelled register and the economical guitaring. Elsewhere it’s hard to deny the pop-rock surge and sweep of ‘A Billion Balconies Facing the Sun’ and closer ‘Don’t Be Evil’ – named after Google’s motto – in which Bradfield rails against the faceless chorus of negativity that internet forums give a platform to. It’s a mixed bag, unlikely to win new fans, but a reminder of the band’s unique synergy, as they approach 25 years together.
