User ratings in Music are temporarily disabled. More info
- Summary: The latest full-length solo release from former Wild Beasts frontman Hayden Thorpe was inspired by Robert MacFarlane's book of the same name.
Buy Now
| Buy on |
|
- Record Label: Domino
- Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Rock, New Wave/Post-Punk Revival, Alternative Singer/Songwriter
- More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
-
Positive: 4 out of 5
-
Mixed: 1 out of 5
-
Negative: 0 out of 5
-
Oct 2, 2024Through Hayden, Ness Speaks – and it’s quite unlike anything else you’ll hear all year.
-
Oct 2, 2024This is the most challenging yet of Hayden Thorpe’s solo oeuvre – but also the most rewarding, for you can appreciate it without knowing anything about Orford Ness. The music compels you to undertake a voyage of discovery, to travel in your mind if not your body – but if you’ve been there, you will recognise the sights, the sounds, the sea spray and the ever-constant wind.
-
UncutOct 2, 2024While Jack McNeill’s woodwind accompaniment lends “In The Green Chapel” and “As” a bucolic atmosphere with an edge of ever-present threat. Meanwhile, snatches of Macfarlane’s elegant words add further intrigue to a wonderfully original piece of work. [Oct 2024, p.43]
-
MojoOct 2, 2024Setting Macfarlane’s words to music, the 13 tracks of Ness offer calm with a suitably disquieting undertow, rather like the place itself, with Thorpe’s countertenor adding to the melodrama. [Nov 2024, p.86]
-
Oct 9, 2024The literary heft of the record leaves slim pickings for pure listening. The familiarity of the vocal line on ‘He’ provides a satisfactory hook, ‘She’ is dreamy and melancholy, while ‘In The Green Chapel’ combines Hayden’s still-unmistakeable vocal with a softly-plucked guitar line that bears similarity to New Order’s ‘True Faith’.