{"id":222,"date":"2012-04-23T09:30:14","date_gmt":"2012-04-23T08:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/douglascowie.com\/?p=222"},"modified":"2012-04-22T14:14:13","modified_gmt":"2012-04-22T13:14:13","slug":"music-review-luke-roberts-the-iron-gates-at-throop-and-newport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.douglascowie.net\/?p=222","title":{"rendered":"Music Review: Luke Roberts “The Iron Gates at Throop and Newport”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Luke Roberts<\/a> The Iron Gates at Throop and Newport<\/em> Thrill Jockey<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a wonderful album.\u00a0 The opening song holds together through voice, sparely picked guitar, some quiet notes on the fiddle and fragile lyrics\u2014\u201cI don\u2019t want you anymore \/ It\u2019s been a long time \/ you don\u2019t have to ask.\u201d This fragility gives way to \u201cCartier Timepiece\u201d, a gentle and sleepily jaunty song that if it were about an animal instead of a stoned road trip would fit perfectly on that album by the Seeger family (you know, the one with all the songs about animals).\u00a0 Each song here sounds so damn delicate\u2014like maybe you should just hold your breath while you\u2019re listening\u2014and even when there\u2019s drumming and electric guitar it feels like listening to a snowflake.\u00a0 The penultimate song, \u201cLost on Leaving\u201d, comes closer than anything else here to something like happiness, and also features a piano and jew\u2019s harp playing in unison to pretty wonderful effect.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t a song on this album that doesn\u2019t linger in your ears and on your mind long after its gone, and despite the melancholy that suffuses the music and lyrics, the lingering impression is one of a muted kind of hope and joy: Luke Roberts expresses the struggles and pains of life with a dignity and restraint.\u00a0 This album bears all the hallmarks of the best kind of art.<\/p>\n

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