ABSTRACT CRIMEWAVE
The Longest Night
(Chimp Limbs Records)
Abstract Crimewave are not a new band. For the past 10 years they were called Smile and put out two albums under that name, then along came Thom Yorke and stole the name for his post-Radiohead act. They could have sued, but can you copyright a smile? Probably not. They have a far better name now though, and its for the best that Joakim Åhlund and Björn Yttling didn't mortgage their houses to pay for lawyers, as that might have meant that they wouldn't have been able to afford the studio bills for 'The Longest Night'.
It is a bit of a mixed bag to be honest, lacking the coherence I expect from an album and with the feeling of a collection of songs they had in the bag and thought they may as well put out together as an album. Some tracks, such as 'The Gambler' would have been all over the radio in a previous decade. Others, such as the commercially tinged title track, helped along by Chrissie Hynde's distinctive drawl, almost feel like they belong on a different album altogether.
There are a couple of two minute tracks that have the feel of uncompleted acoustic based demos, included just to make up the numbers, but the highlights for me come at either end, with the first and last tracks, 'Heading Out' and 'Dodmansgrepp' bookending the album in style, scaling the heights achieved by Åhlund's other act Les Big Byrd, who we interviewed back in February.
So, a flawed album in some ways, a glorious one in others. One things for sure, although Thom Yorke may have stolen the name, after 'The Longest Night', Abstract Crimewave are left wearing the smile.
