LP Review : Ultimate Painting - Green Lanes (Indie Pop)
Green Lanes
FRENCH version
(english below)
"I Was Lost" est un autre morceau parfaitement exécuté. Lorsque l'on sait que le groupe garde toujours ses deuxièmes ou troisièmes prises, comme il nous l'avait confié à l'occasion de notre interview, on se dit que parvenir à allier tant de spontanéité avec une production si précise, c'est fort. "Tee Zee Em" est une sorte de balancier, comme un symbole du temps qui passe. L'aventure continue. L'heure de la moralisation semble avoir sonné avec "Paying the Price". En réalité, Ultimate Painting se veut être plus rassembleur, preuve en est sur "Woken By Noises". Le froid du dernier morceau, "Out in the Cold", est conceptualisé par une guitare très présente. Alors que le son de cet instrument est souvent associé à la chaleur ainsi qu'à la sensualité, Ultimate Painting joue du paradoxe de la froideur pour se fondre lentement dans l'expectative d'un troisième album.
ENGLISH version
The band is coming back with a second LP, Green Lanes, via Trouble In Mind. Taking back the spirit created on his first album, Ultimate Painting has perfected his art and Green Lanes happens to be a splendid LP of indie pop.
There is something that is constantly reminding me of this quote of Oscar Wilde when listening to Ultimate Painting: "Women are meant to be loved, not understood." The same goes with this LP: the beauty of the music made by Ultimate Painting is hard to understand, but how not to fall in love with it. With Green Lanes, Ultimate Painting perpetuates the tradition of the involuntary praise of the irrational. Ultimate Painting's formula is quite simple: two musicians, one on drums and the other with the guitar. Nothing revolutionary at first sight. Yet, the brilliance of Ultimate Painting has little equivalent.
Sometimes, I tell myself that Ultimate Painting complete a kind of pendulum swing. There were the Velvet Underground, the band that made history. And then, started the saddest hours of pop music with the arrival of TV and mass promotion. In a sense, Ultimate Painting is part of this elite which heralds the return of a pop ala Velvet by focusing on harmonies before anything else.
The album opens with "Kodiak", one of the catchier songs of the entire LP. Jack Cooper's great voice is already in the foreground, one of the band true signature. "Sweet Chris" is even more poetic. We find back Ultimate Painting's dual intention, melting sunny melodies and the spirit of the fall season. And then, "(I've Got The) Sanctioned Blues" gives a new impetus to Green Lanes. The influence of the Velvet is here quite obvious and very welcomed.
"Two from the Vault" is surrounded by the two "Ocean". It is probably one of the most graceful melodies of the entire album. The harmony of the two voices creates a delicious experience. I do not recall another band who accomplishes the same level of sophistication. "Break the Chain" proposes to no longer play the game, to leave the system, the one that Ultimate Painting ironically denounced in our interview, "anyone being disruptive these days has probably discussed it first with their manager".
"I Was Lost" is another perfectly executed piece of music. Knowing that Ultimate Painting always keeps his second or third take, achieving such a spontaneity with a precise production is masterful. "Tee Em Zee", for its part, is a kind of balance, as a symbol of the passing of time. The adventure continues. The time for moralizing seems to come with "Paying the Price", but Ultimate Painting aims at being more inclusive with "Woken By Noises". The cold created by the last track, "Out in the Cold", is conceptualized by the guitar. While the sound of this instrument is often associated with heat and sensuality, Ultimate Painting creates a paradox by using this instrument to introduce a cool atmosphere.
I can not help but associate Ultimate Painting's music with the autumnal season. This LP is guiding us through the freshen trails of a rainforest torwards the heat of the moments spent with the loved one. "Deeply sad and hoping for better days pretty much sums it up," as the band said in our interview. We find a splenetic force all along.
It is no surprise that Ultimate Painting mentions "The Beatles, The Velvet Underground, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan and The Byrds" as his five favorite bands. Everything is about harmony. The idea of meticulousness is also supplemented by the band's desire to create his music at home, without seeking any particular structure. That is why Ultimate Painting does not spend a great amount of time in a studio, according to Oscar Wilde's maxim, "logic is the last refuge of the unimaginative."
Quite severe with the other bands in his own country ("People in the UK get way too serious about everything and are constantly on Twitter / Facebook / Instagram trying to convince each other they're actually cool. When they should be more concerned with making a decent record."), Ultimate Painting might well be, once again, the very best European band of 2015. We must look for beauty in every things, in the raw energy of punk music, in the adrenaline of rock'n'roll, in the beat of jazz music or in the aesthetics of Ultimate Painting's music.