Pocketbooks – Flight Paths

Regular readers will know just how highly we rate Pocketbooks at the Into the Valley offices. The latest album ‘Carousel’ was reviewed last July with the kind of reverence usually reserved only for obscure royalty. The great news is that ‘Flight Paths’ their debut LP is even better. There’s more offbeat harmonies, more quirky duets and lashings of kitchen sink drama lyricism, so brace yourselves for one of my favourite albums of this year.

Pocketbooks are as far from the corporate rock clone as can be imagined. There’s no pretence or posturing in these songs, just heartfelt snapshots of the real world viewed through glasses once worn by the Poohsticks. It’s pure British pop music that would have been so popular in the mid eighties world of vinyl, but somehow doesn’t fit snugly onto a new fangled i-pod playlist. Having said that I’m sure Ben Fogle has them on constant repeat through his headphones. (We love Ben Fogle at Into the Valley…) 

 

 

We already knew quality of ‘Fleeting Moments’, but who would have guessed the amount of other gems contained in this collection. ‘Footsteps’ is the perfect vehicle for Emma’s sweet and sugary vocals, whereas ‘Camera Angles’ is equally appropriate for Andy delicate metro-sexual crooning, with ‘Cross the Line’ sharing the credit in a soaring duet. There are too many high points to mention and I can’t pay it a high enough compliment other than saying that at least half of the songs are equally as enjoyable as ‘Fleeting Moments’.

So get out there and buy it and become one of the cool kids like me and Evlkeith. Well the cool middle aged guys anyway.