If you've read anything else about
the Blue Nile
, you already know it takes them eight to ten years between albums, they're elegant sad sacks, and they're critically adored for the most part. Their last album, 1996's
Peace at Last
, was their first stumble, with main man
Paul Buchanan
yammering wistfully about family and domestication instead of giving listeners the skeletal poems and studio magic of their first two albums. If you weren't staring at your newborn,
could grow tiresome, but
have returned with a more balanced album and
Buchanan
is broken-hearted again, thank the stars. He's been struggling with fatigue and illness and as selfish and inconsiderate as it sounds, it's brought the spark back to his writing. Mood over narrative has always worked to
's benefit and that's what the excellent
"Broken Loves"
is all about, giving the listener a better chance to relate than
's postcard from home.
"I Would Never"
is the sweet single, but album tracks like
"Because of Toledo"
and
"She Saw the World"
are where the album gets meaty and intricately structured, recalling the glory days. Getting more obscure and atmospheric toward the end,
High
follows the arc of their classic,
Walk Across the Rooftops
, and given the time to sink in, the album fits well in their canon. The closing
"Stay Close"
is one of those "raw emotion over urbanite aesthetic" tracks that fans crave. It makes the eyes well up, and like the better part of
, justifies the next eight- to ten-year wait. ~ David Jeffries