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Tuesday, February 9, 2010

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Albums

The Pale Saints, The Comforts of Madness

The Pale Saints: they were kind of like a cross between My Bloody Valentine and the Wedding Present. No, maybe…

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Andrew Womack
Andrew Womack is a founding editor of The Morning News. He is always working on the next installment of the Albums of the Year series at TMN. You can and follow his Twitter updates here.
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The Pale Saints: they were kind of like a cross between My Bloody Valentine and the Wedding Present. No, maybe more like a mix of Cocteau Twins with, um…who is it? No, it’s the Cocteau Twins because of the voice and all. Yeah, except it’s a guy singing. But it’s the same kind of vocals. Plus, they – the Pale Saints – were on 4AD and all, so they’re like totally like the Cocteau Twins. Ethereal and all, but really a lot different. More guitar. Aahhh…kind of like the Pixies! Now we’re getting somewhere…

Maybe they were sort of like Ride. Yeah, they were definitely like Ride. Definitely shoegazers. But then maybe kind of more like Lush (Cocteaus + My Bloody Valentine + 4AD, etc.). Maybe Slowdive. Maybe that’s too far out. Yeah, Pale Saints were more grounded than Slowdive. Maybe like Curve, but without the gothy bits.

The guitar is totally all over all the songs. So maybe you could say it’s like Swervedriver, except less, uh, macho. Maybe like a less-fey Chapterhouse. Like a more artsy Catherine Wheel. Like the Boo Radleys except less dopey. Maybe like Moose except more…I don’t know.

It’s kind of in House of Love territory. But more intricate. Like Jesus & Mary Chain. But happier.

Moonshake, Revolver, Gallon Drunk?

What about Levitation?

thank you for remembering every band you could from a 1992 issue of NME

And The Comforts of Madness, from two years prior, is really the band’s best album. It’s absolutely lovely and truly hasn’t aged a single second.

—Published February 13, 2003