Extra Life – The Sacred Vowel (Last Things) – The Sacred Vowel is the fifth album from New York avant rock band Extra Life, composer/guitarist Charlie Looker’s main vehicle, this time with a line-up including members of Kayo Dot, Secret Chiefs 3 and Time of Orchids, “this record sees Extra Life venturing deeper into cinematic string orchestration and electronic sound design. Long time Extra Life fans will be delighted, and newcomers will find a great place to start” – well that’s what they say on their Bandcamp page. A fifth album release with almost no fanfare (almost? There was no fanfare what so ever, and no advance warning, no press release and yes, we should have covered it already, we can only really cover things or indeed play them on the radio when we actually get them, and yes, we have covered Extra Life for years now, up to bands and their labels really, they don’t have to interact with any of us of course people who get the word out there, of course they don’t). Extra Life are an extra special band, they always have been, we’ve been saying it for years, a vital vital band, and someone has just asked why this latest album has been ignored and did we not rate it? That’s the thing here, if we don’t cover it then that in itself is taken a statement and get that shit away from me, let me fire up the teapot and well let’s have a proper listen, let’s fire up the Bandcamp, of course we rate it!  

That seven and a half minute opener, Corrupt Corrupt is Extra Life at their best, if you don’t know then, that’s as fine a place to start as any, familiar yet totally unexpected, everything you expect from Charlie Looker and whoever his always beautiful band is this time around, and yet, even though all the trademarks are there, this is nothing like you’d expect. I’m Normal is of course anything but and you do have to absorb those words along with the orchestral details, the glowing undercurrents, the layers, you do have to let him get that shit away, get whatever he needs to say, get it out there. And when they’re sounding as good as this (as they almost always are) there really is no other like this very special band, this unique band, this emotionally challenging, musically even more challenging, this almost physically draining band. Every note is a crafted piece of beauty, every note precisely placed, exquisitely so. And now she’s gone and he hasn’t learnt a thing, and we’re halfway through a sentence and the words are relentless and I am only properly listening for a first time but is this maybe even better than ever? Am I right, am I mistaken? One two three in a row, ducks? Worms, are they worms? Why not? Why not? Why not? Bloody hell, why not?! This is powerful, economic as well, not a single note too much, never too much, never the clutter of what passes for progressive these days. Three Worms, even by their high high standards, is exceptional – and just rowed back on Monday evening or maybe I heard that wrong? This is an album that can’t be judged in one serving, this is going to be chewed over for days, weeks, months, we’re probably never going to get to the bottom of it, this book will need to be read again and again and it is going to be a wormy week ahead (and I wrote all that a couple of weeks ago, just fired it up again on the other side of those Cardiacs gigs and such….) 

The Twelve minute adventure that is album closer The Sacred Vowel has been extensively explored already, that was the one track,  the one cat they did let out the bag, we did feature that one track back when it first emerged as a first taste but even that hadn’t really prepared the way with that unbroken wind of melody and the need for a black hoodie and the leaving of nothing, we needed it to end the whole album to really get near it. The whole album is a thing of beauty, a crafted thing of beauty, probably nearer to English folk, medieval folk, chamber music, nearer that ever and alright alright alright, let’s go around again, shadow heart flickering, myriad faces, veil worn, the one true face. I’m Normal is the closest they get to “normal” Extra Life – 

“This is the first Extra Life record with violist Timba Harris, whose masterful playing, original ideas, and arrangements shine like the sun. It was our first time playing with killer drummer David Bodie, who crushed and crafted elite parts of true elegance and power. And the great Toby Driver returns with his always unstoppable bass work, including some galaxy-brained fretless lines” 

– and yes, those drums are so so crafted, so so Extra Life, and yes, Timba Harris always brings something, he was so so good with Toby Driver and Charlie Looker at Cafe Oto that time not so long ago. And did I really try? Yeah, I tried and yes, there’s prog grandeur, acoustic singing-songs, doom, and some studio-composed damage, feel first, and the detail glows and now I’m back again a couple of weeks later and it is so so bright and precise and yes, beautifully honest and long shadow can you tell me where I’ve been? Can you tell me where my future lies? Things happen, just happen, the dynamic here is beautiful. another episode, just more life, extra life and now night is here, same as the morning was, have we not learnt a thing? Has he? Those lyrics are stories, personal thoughts, things to decode, half was through a sentence, poetically returning, that bit did sound like an orchestral Smiths rather than Tim Smith or Mr Drake and oh this whole thing is so so beautifully rich and what will tomorrow bring? Those strings are just so right, so strong, so alive, the production so perfect, You do suspect Albini would have hated it but this is as honest as anything her ever touched, this is rich in honest beauty and here comes the tale (or the tail) of the Three worms again, not an inch excess, every second, every note vital, this is economic music.

And this is a tale of three worms and if there is such a thing as properly forward looking progressive rock, then this is it, this is where Gentle Giant were going before they got distracted and compromised (and went off for those ill-thought-out three weeks in Spain just to prove a point that never needed to be proven), Three Worms is beyond anything Extra Life have done before, Three worms is just wow! I’m just saying, why keep on fighting it? Why not? Why not? Whyyyyyyy not? Why not!!  It may only just be May but we’re probably listening to the album of the year right here, and they’ve just what on Monday evening? And that hum, and worm the third is free, it really is going to be a wormy weekend, a wormy week ahead. This is tense, this is drama, the only thing near any of this is the dark beauty of Gazelle Twin, (now what if they were to work together! Would it just be too much?) And now were back to the almost thirteen minutes of The Sacred Vowel again and it really is Plague of Musical Boxes good, it really is properly righteous, properly proper stuff. Mouth agape, feeling small, big, feeling so big, it feels so so big, that broken seal, that dark dark chord chiming and unbroken wind of melody and ohhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaahhhhhh…  And there goes that shiver right up the spine, and those chimes and those cuts, those musical thrusts, and becoming waves, becoming storm, open door, words wrong, breathe… 

Clear the decks, don’t be doing anything else when you first listen to this, just put it on, stand there, arms aloft and let it take you, when I feel, then fall after me. the sacred vowel, wow! WOW! And yes, I did have to come back, I did have to let it lie for a week or two then put it on again just to make sure I was right first time, that I hadn’t gone way over the top, that it wasn’t wishful thinking, that it as as perfect as i thought it was two weeks ago, and wow, even better!  This is ridiculously good, outrageously so! But don’t take my word for it, I mean how could it be this good? This review is clearly hopelessly over the top and away over the hills, surely minds have been lost, but hey, the proof is never in the proof reading or the pudding catcher so I won’t bother, you don’t need words, there’s the music right there. Don’t be doing other things when you put it on now, you only get to listen for the first time once, make it special,don’t be checking your phone or making a cake or painting a picture or buying shoes on line, just clear the decks, put it on loud, have no distractions, be by yourself, let it flow through the air, let them paint for you, let them bake for you, let them take over, just let it…  Album of the year, calling it now, right here in May, I hope they get enough money to press it, it doesn’t even physically exist right now other than a download, that’s ridiculous as well. An immense album. an immense piece of art, wow!  (sw)     

Bandcamp / website