The Declining Winter: Belmont Slope
Home Assembly Music
Belmont Slope is definitely a must-have for Hood fans; not only is The Declining Winter the brainchild of the band's co-founder Richard Adams, Belmont Slope, the follow-up to 2015's Home For Lost Souls, naturally includes audible traces of Hood DNA in its pastoral folk-pop presentation. Moments arise on the nine-song set that'll likely call to mind other artists (and styles), too, but the glue holding this particular collection together is, more than anything else, Adams' wispy, light-as-a-feather voice.
Available in digital, vinyl (300 copies), and CD (250) formats, the release certainly has his fingerprints all over it, given that most of what's heard on the album is by him. James Yates and Chris Cole contribute drumming, respectively, to the first two songs (Cole trumpet, too), while bass by Michael Harrison and guitar by Martin Cummings appear on a few tracks; Joanne Ellis also adds vocals to a couple of pieces. Otherwise, it's all Adams.
Pitched as a “love letter to the hills of Yorkshire and Lancashire, a paean to desolate beauty, unattainable love, and lost friends,” the album explores a number of different stylistic areas without sacrificing its pastoral indie-pop focus in the process. With electric guitars and drums opening the album with some macabre-free blend of Blue Oyster Cult, Grizzly Bear, and The Byrds, “My Divided World” immediately identifies itself as a Declining Winter production the moment Adams' voice appears. It's an effectively rousing overture that achieves liftoff when the vocals multiply into polyphonic counterpoint and the arrangement as a whole blossoms radiantly.
When conjoined to lulling drum rhythms, hushed vocals, and an endlessly repeating guitar figure, Cole's muted horn contributions to “Break the Elder” intensify the song's hypnotic effect. “Near Garden” even, oddly enough, calls to mind Here Come the Warm Jets in the way the vocal counterpoint recalls Eno's own singing on a few of the album's songs. In a break from the vocal-based presentation, the title track presents a short instrumental reverie where piano and electronics generate an effect that's intimate, pastoral, and epic at the same time, whereas in the album's biggest departure, “Twilight Rating” barrels forth with booming kick drums and a chugging techno pulse that would feel right at home in the basement of a Berlin club (a similar kind of rhythm emerges during the dreampop-styled “Still Harbour Hope” though this time muffled and paired with a post-rock drum pattern).
As stated, Adams' singing is the group's signature, even if there are other things that define its sound, too. Yet while his vocalizing does give The Declining Winter personality, it's also not very emotionally expressive, with Adams generally concentrating on hitting the right notes and ensuring the vocal's an appealing part of the arrangement; certainly the absence of histrionics is much appreciated, but a slightly less controlled and sanitized delivery wouldn't be unwelcome. That said, there's much to admire about Belmont Slope as a total presentation, chief among them strong songwriting and refined production values.November 2018