1 2 3 4 5

Broken hearts, broken minds and broken souls are the constant themes of Soulsavers second album Broken. The dark side is explored and despairs are aired on what is a dense and (for want of a better word) ‘gothic’ album.

Helmed by the English duo of Rich Machin and Ian Glover it features an enviable line-up of musicians who have all made names for themselves with music on the moodier and slightly twisted side of the tracks.

The scene setting instrumental The Seventh Proof creates a lonely and barren introduction to the album. It invokes loneliness, grief and a foreboding sense of ominous things to come. Death Bells adds a krautrock sense of motion with feeding-back guitars and a gritty crunch. Mark Lanegan’s weather beaten voice is instantly recognisable and he is essentially the third member of the band, contributing his vocals to all but two of the non-instrumental songs on the album.

Alongside Lanegan is a stellar lineup of additional vocalists. Gibby Haynes, Mike Patton, Richard Hawley and Jason Pierce all add their own feel to the album with Patton being the most successful on Unbalanced Pieces. The two of them build a brooding mood that is similar to The Twilight Singers and Nick Cave in its creeping intensity.

You Will Miss Me When I Burn is a Will Oldham written song that stands out as the most direct and moving moment on Broken. Oldham pens weighty lines like ‘When you have no-one, no-one can hurt you’ and adds his macabre touch to the twisted love song. The minimal instrumentation also makes this a stark rendition which sets it aside from the other denser songs on the album.

The song also marks the first time we hear the voice of Sydney singer Red Ghost (Rosa Agostino) who kept sending Soulsavers demos of her songs and ended up working with them on the record. She takes the lead on Praying Ground and By My Side and the PJ Harvey sense of longing in her voice lends itself perfectly to the albums mood.

Machin and Glover have added more guitars to their electronic landscape on this record and it improves the emotional connection to the music. Strings, vinyl crackles and other mood enhancers are all utilised to conjure up the dark and almost jazz noir feeling.

One issue with making music of this type is maintaining the attention of the listener. At an hour long it does struggle to engage fully over its thirteen songs. Its heavy and measured footsteps will be slow going for many and it may take a back seat as background music for those that don’t have the patience for its drift and weight.

Lanegan is the star attraction of Broken and without him it would wallow in its own despair. He provides the strength and backbone amongst the misery. Broken also serves to introduce Red Ghost to a wider audience which is a good thing for her and us. This album won’t make end of year lists but when the mood calls for some late night introspection and soul searching this could be just the thing to take you there.