iliketrains – 'Elegies To Lessons Learnt' review
A series of songs about well-known historical events sung with deadly seriousness, ‘Elegies’ lyrically aims to mimic the late-period gravitas of Johnny Cash. It’s unfortunate, then, that the singing is the worst thing about this record – David Martin’s painfully self-important delivery of banal lyrics conjures less Man in Black, more Hard-Fi. It’s off-putting too: the twaddle coming out of Martin’s gob rather distracts from the magnificent Mogwaiesque post-rock in the background. Sack the singer and try again.
5/10
