There are few records that sound anything like ‘I Fear A New World’. At a push, the closest might come from frontman Murray Macleod’s more widely recognised self-defined distorted pop outfit The Xcerts. There are Cold Crows Dead moments which continue along the same route, however the pop compositions and sheer unpredictability far outweigh anything that Macleod has previously been involved in.
‘I Fear A New World’ is an exploration of sound – rarely are two songs similar, or even fit within the same basic genre. Opener and album highlight (and title track of their 2012 EP) ‘Ghost That Burned Your House Down’ allows Macleod to whisper hushed vocals under an ominous tune that delves into electronic experimentation, while later on the record ‘Deadheads’ overlays a more traditional pop melody with fitting vocal ticks and a falsetto crescendo.
The record’s difficulty to settle on a style results in a schizophrenic feel, but it’s something that compliments the overall ethos of the record. ‘I Fear A New World’ is a challenging listen masquerading as something more whimsical. All the while the eleven tracks are pulled together by the balance between a melancholic sound and a largely unique fairy-tale vibe.
Its alternative pop vibrancy is in part due to the clever production and lyrical content of Macleod’s creative partner, Paul Steel. It also boasts lyrical involvement by poet Stephen Kalinich whose body of work includes the likes of The Beach Boys. ‘I Fear A New World’ is an experimental amalgamation of these influences, and one that sounds predictably askew.
‘Scarred and Thoughtless’ and ‘Screaming At Shadows’ provide the pop-ballad contradiction to the rare screams in ‘My Shovel’, or the hip-hop influence of ‘Man In Bleak’. Just as the record allows the listener to settle it blindsides with an unpredictable shift.
In this sense, ‘I Fear A New World’ is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Cold Crows Dead are forging a unique musical world filled with multi-instrumentalists, a distinct lack of genre boundaries and some occasionally questionable experimentation – whether you chose to fear this is your prerogative. Then again, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
BEN TIPPLE