November’s Movember and music

November is no more. This is both glum and glorious. Glum? November is my month. It contains the most joyous week of the year which spans from Halloween to bonfire night, nestling my birthday right in the centre (someone once said my personality also sat right between the two… make of that what you will).

‘My Birthday Week’ as I self-centeredly call it begins with dressing up, ends with fireworks and contains random me fun in the middle (this year my lovely fella took me for lunch at the Lowry Hotel followed by cocktails then an evening of Salsa, hurrah, he knows me well!) So December means the longest wait possible before my next birthday.

However, with November goes Movember! Now, I am all for people behaving in a ridiculous manner in the name of ‘charidy’. As with fancy dress people like to do things they wouldn’t normally dare to “all for a good cause”! I’m glad Movember has been a success and stacks of cash has been raised. But, much like the making of a sausage – I know it goes on, I’m glad it goes on (as I tuck into my Saturday breakfast barm) – I don’t really want to see it.

I’ve never been massively fond of professional facial hair (I blame my catholic upbringing). Seeing daily updates of tash development on twitter (which is optional) and more disturbingly Facebook (un-optional – you are confronted with be-tashed men daily) has been a grievance to me. More grievential (oh I like that) is that friends of mine, raising cash for Movember, have been inspired by their facial fur. I noticed as the hair grew thicker, so did its influence prompting an increased donning of full denim and a return of the lumberjack shirt. I live in hope that December sees the rear end of this.

As a welcomed distraction from the invasion of pubescent facial protrusions November was also the month of the eagerly anticipated (by me) second Florence + the Machine album Ceremonials, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, and the late coming too (due to me obsessing over something else in October, I forget what) Biophilia by Bjork.

I adored Lungs by Flo – wore out the album, saw the concert, literally bought the t-shirt (very lovely it is too). It is an album of two mixed halves. It included some songs I didn’t really like such as ‘Girl with one eye’, but I appreciated the insight into the juvenilia of an experimenting artist. On the other hand,  ‘Cosmic Love’ (which I wrote a huge 2,000 word ramble on, such was my love for it), ‘Swimming’ and the title track ‘Lungs’ were truly brilliant, intricate and adventurous explorations of a woman shaping on the outside much that goes on within.  You sensed that Florence Welsh really was growing into her lungs and into herself.

I’d been playing ‘What the water gave me’ and ‘Shake it out’ on constant youtube for a while so my friend kindly bought me Ceremonials for my birthday, and rather chuffed I was too. But instead of thrilling it throttled my sensibilities – it didn’t but I feel things getting a little dull here and want to inject a bit of drama. Actually that sort of sums up the deflation I feel with the album.

When Flo released ‘Heavy in your arms’ from The Twilight Saga then added it to the Lungs re-release, I shared the video with a friend online. She responded with “Wow, I wanted romance, but this was something more real”. That certainly sums up the more successful tracks from Lungs while Ceremonials is quite the opposite. Everything is there – the crashing drums, the intricate harp, Flo wailing like the hybrid lovechild of a Pre-Raphaelite banshee and former member of ‘Iko Iko’ singing Belle Stars (which I say as a compliment, seriously). Despite all this it falls disappointingly flat, landing safely as it does so.

Much like Marching Already, the follow up to Ocean Colour Scene’s huge success Mosley Shoals, there is no musical reason why it doesn’t work (apart from playing it extremely safe, reaching a levels of artistic achievement and sitting comfortably there), but for me, it just doesn’t.  My condemnation will certainly not affect its general appreciation and I’ll still listen to it, but will have a slight whinge about how it’s let me down as I do.

In contrast, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds works. Now I liked Oasis circa 1994-1996 and always preferred Noel to Liam. I’m no die-hard fan but am always interested in a bit of sibling rivalry and was glad to enjoy this new album from the less bowl-headed of the two brothers. It isn’t ground breaking, but I didn’t expect it to be so and simply enjoy its reliably well structured and uplifting enough songs.

It is probably unfair and slightly irrational that because I expected less I actually prefer Noel’s to Flo’s. Imagine having two children – one artistic and eclectic, the other easy-going and reliable – both wear jeans and a white t-shirt. You are impressed with the second child simply because they look decent but let down by the first, as you expected sequins, moonlight and drama. My albums, my children (said Lord of the Rings style, “my precious”).

Fortunately, as I’m always in need of a little fabulousness, Bjork released Biophilia.  Me and my fella saw the first ever showing of this project at the Manchester International Festival in July and were totally astounded by it. The revolutionary App Album is for me (owner of texting brick) simply an album, accompanied by many hours trawling youtube for generously uploaded clips of how the apps work. I won’t review the album here – it is too hugely, massively impactive and ridiculously amazing for me to put into words right now.

To be brief (a concept I expect succinctly from others yet do not understand myself), Biophilia is a wondrously, organic, aural response to a variety of concepts in physics by a digital maestro and vocal queen using made-up instruments and actual live electricity for sound. My fella, a Carl Sagan fan, calls it Cosmos the Musical. It is the greatest thing since bread came sliced (to borrow from R.E.M.) which for me was April 2011 when Elbow released Build A Rocket Boys!

With that in mind I’m going to playlist Biophilia and Build A Rocket Boys! and make a steak and leek pie. I’ve festivities to think of. Each cinnamon, knitted and pine plan overwrites a Movember memory. Something I plan to do with complete dedication.

Today I listened to: Build a Rocket Boys by Elbow and Biophilia by Bjork
Today I read: Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

I was throwing out an old bed sheet (which still hasn;t made it to the bin as I keep doing things with it) and wanted to make an advent calendar, this was the result. Every day my fella Kev has to find the number to get the treat (which we usually share)