Braveyoung
We Are Lonely Animals
The End Records

Shhh… quiet down. No, quieter than that. Quieter still. Yeah, there you go. That’s the volume you have to listen to We Are Lonely Animals at. That’s not to say this is a record with no power- there’s actually an unstoppable, titanic might behind this thing -but there’s no screaming voices, shrieking guitars or pounding drums to point you in the right direction, to guide you through. If you can find some quiet time though and pick your own path through the soft post-everything hush, you’ll hear one of the best albums of the year.

Braveyoung weren’t always like this- only 3 years ago they were Giant and they were making an almighty sludge-fuelled racket- but they’ve learnt that sometimes beauty and brains can be stronger than brawn, and that heartstrings can often pull much more weight than even the biggest muscles. The result is indispensable material like the oh-so-delicate but deadly-emotional Flesh and Bone (Do not listen to this song if you’ve had a hard day), the ambient, distant space-rock of How Each Friend Departed, and the absolutely crushing The Weight of Loss Is Whole. Seriously, they may be using acoustic guitars, soft strings and ghostly whispers to craft this stuff but it’s more touching than the most intense screamo, harder than the toughest rock and heavier than the blackest metal.

If you need further pointers then words like atmospheric, epic, ethereal could all be put to some kind of use, but still they all somehow fall short. We Are Lonely Animals falls between words, or demands the invention of brand new ones. It may be one of the quietest records you read about here all year then, but it’ll be one of the most powerful too. Shhh…

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Review by Simon T Diplock