This is the first A Certain Ratio album for over a decade. As per usual, it's arrival hasn't really caused anything more than a mere ripple amongst their die-hard fans, like me, who have followed the band through their career, all the way back to the Factory Records days.
`Mind Made Up' doesn't hit the spot right away and needs at least two or three listens until some of the tracks make sense. For ACR it's business as usual, with a nice mix of funky pop with with some darker elements and the odd slice of spikey guitar, with understated vocals from Jeremy Kerr, contrasting with Denise Johnson's soulful warbling.
Stand-outs are `Everything Is Good', `Skunk', `Way To Escape', `Rialto 2006', `Bird To The Ground' and the latin-flavoured percussion work-out `Very Busy Man' which reminds me of `Tribeca` and the live favourite `Si Firmir O Grido'.
Note that this album has only been released in France on the Le Maquis label.
ACR are playing some dates over the coming months:
29 May 2009, Primavera Festival, Barcelona, Spain
31 May 2009, Fundação de Serralves, Porto, Portugal
15 June 2009, The Beat Happening Sessions, Dingwalls, London
4 July 2009, Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK
6 September 2009, Offset Festival, Chigwell (near London), UK
3 October 2009, Le Plan - Factory Festival, Nr Paris, France
Here are two clips of ACR. This first is of the band in the studio recording `Mind Made Up' and the second is `I Feel Light', the opening track from the album.
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