Although these are all the songs of Tim West, the guest list on The Climbers’ debut The Good Ship (there are appearances by members of Shoreline, Sons Of Noel And Adrian, The Leisure Society and The Laish Quartet , amongst others) gives the album something of the feel of a Willkommen compilation. Which, of course, ain’t necessarily a bad thing.
With almost half of the songs featuring Nick Hemming on lead vocals, and an additional track with vocals provided by Christian Hardy, listening to the album, it’s difficult to avoid drawing comparisons with the Leisure Society but to do so would be to do it a disservice. This is not a Leisure Society record and to be fair, at no point does it attempt to be. The instrumentation gives The Climbers a more muscular sound than many of the bands which make up their composite form and the songs lack the ornate prettiness of Hemming and Hardy’s main vehicle, offering instead something with a darker, more brooding edge to them. A sort of lush folk-noir if you will.
This is no more evident than on Uncommon with Sharon Lewis singing ‘you turn all the lights out before the party is over, you beat me, police me,’ while Dan Michaelson growls along huskily. The guitars are drenched in reverb and distortion and there’s a menacing sea-shanty chorus for good measure.
The decision to hand responsibility for so many of the vocals over to Nick Hemming is easy to understand. His presence brings a sweetness to set against the melancholy of In A Circle, while his performance on the gentle country ballad I Will Never suggests that Hemming has it in him to one day record an out and out country album in full Merle Haggard style.
The Good Ship is released on Willkommen Records shortly. In the meantime, catch them on Marc Riley’s BBC 6Muisc show on 25th February or visit their MySpace here.
The Willkommen Collective, the musical answer to swinging, have been at it again. This time the car keys picked out of the pot include Nick Hemming and Christian Hardy from The Leisure Society and various members of Sons Of Noel & Adrian, The Miserable Rich and Shoreline.