| Much delayed but eagerly anticipated by the
small band of obsessives who still
coo over
their 1994 debut this is the Irish
five piece's
sophomore miracle. Fittingly, it is
a harder,
wiser album than its predecessor. The
boundless
sense of wide-eyed wonder that sparkled
through
Mute has been replaced with a bruised
world-weariness
that never grates. Mute was arecord
of pastoral
delights; Stooping to Fit is more jagged
and urbane. It is a tribute to the
band -
and especially songwriter Dale Grundle
-
that their basic guitar/bass/drums/keyboards
formula remains so fresh and involving.
It
is also thanks, in part, to the exquisite
orchestrations of Robert Kirby (Nick
Drake's
arranger) which tumble deliriously
from opener
Half Awake and grace the tear-strewn
crepuscular
heartbreak of When I get over you.
Stooping
to Fit is a soft-spoken masterpiece. |
