Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

The Stills

Logic Will Break Your Heart

Label: 679 Recordings Release Date: 01/03/2004

5695
gdobson by Gareth Dobson March 10th, 2004

Tired of hearing about the new indie revolution yet? Not sure who’s leading what charge and who’s got the flag? Or is it all in the critic’s heads? Be wary, very wary of whom you trust when it comes to matters of music.

Of course, that’s all bunk really, it comes down to bands and records; judged only by themselves on their own merits. However, it’d be nice if there was another golden age of reverb and introspection, if only to remove the jagged shards of distressed denim from our wounded hearts.

Cycles, it’s all cycles, and that indeed is ‘Logic Will Break Your Heart’ in a perpetual motion nutshell. Heartbreak, darkness, disgust, redemption, heartbreak darkness, disgust, short-lived redemption. Repeat. Repeat.

It’s not a pretty record; while of course, being at times a very pretty record. Grandiose and majestic are probably the oft repeated words, and that doesn’t surprise, with influences anchored by the sounds of Echo & The Bunnymen, Joy Division and all manner of twenty-year old bands that I won’t condescend you by mentioning. I haven’t heard of them either. Embedded in a self-regarding mausoleum of reverb, ‘Logic…’ coldly croons of a world that’s left the warm-hearted behind, of a life beset by misery, much of it caused by affairs of the heart. Ah, the girls. What hope for a band who intently inform you how “the girl will screw you”, with all that’s left being “suicide dreams” (all set nicely to hefty sounds and metronomic peals of guitar in ‘The Gender Bomb’). Of course, misanthropy is the common bedfellow of misogyny. The otherwise fantastically uplifting ‘Changes Are No Good’ informs us that “I am a weekday on weekends/I hate my best friends”, whilst the excellent ‘Love and Death’ steams along on a New Order bassline, synced with the not-so-cheery observation “don't bother counting on me / loving me / just stand back I'm gone”.

But it’s not all self-hatred and internal barbed wire. There’s a song on there about candyfloss and walks in the park. No, of course there isn’t. And why should there be? The Stills are a sad band. Which 9 times out of 10 makes them better than happy bands. Warped logic? Have you seen the world out there? You’re reading an online review of a band that has sold not too many more than dick-all records to the population at large. I’m kind of assuming that you’re not a Cheeky Girls fan. You know the score. We need sad-bastard indie records like we need big overcoats in the eternal winters of our soul. Even better when they’re very good sad-bastard indie records.

And ‘Logic..’ most definitely is that. It may not be the best, but then again, it’s treading plastic spheres in the ball-pool of bands like the aforementioned Bunnymen and Joy Division, plus of course The Smiths *and Radiohead. Not falling on its backside is achievement enough. Songs like the jittery Blondie-disco of ‘_Still In Love Song_’, all delusional defiance, storm the cider-stained dance floors of our bedrooms magnificently, while ‘_Lets Roll_’ reaches for the sky, belying the fact that singer *Tim Fletcher is suffering from some sort of slo-mo chest implosion.

Pain and self-disregard, being surrounded in your bedroom by 47 Snickers wrappers and full of self loathing as your elbows drip with blood is a fine thing. These are strong emotions. That’s why we have records made about them. That’s why you buy them. Another heartbreak to add to the shopping list.

  • 8
    Gareth Dobson's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing


  • Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alternative must sees



Left-arrow

Fountains Of Wayne at Garage, Glasgow, Mon 01 Mar

Mobback
5693
5937

Clor at Brixton The Windmill, Lambeth, Fri 23 Apr

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145
  • news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143

    news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141
  • news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139

    Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138
  • Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137

    Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
  • Festival Review


    Way Out East: DiS Does Sharpe Festival 2019

  • 106135
MORE


    news


    The Neptune Music Prize 2016 - Vote Now

  • 103918
  • Takeover


    The Winner Takes It All

  • 50972

    Takeover


    10 Things To Not Expect Your Record Producer To...

  • 93724
  • review


    The Mars Volta - Deloused In The Comatorium

  • 4317

    review


    Sonic Youth - Nurse

  • 6044
  • feature


    New Emo Goth Danger? My Chemical Romance confro...

  • 89578

    feature


    DiS meets Justice

  • 27270
  • news


    Our Independent music filled alternative to New...

  • 104374
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND