A Rare Day of Productivity

Today has been uncharacteristically productive. Or at least the first part was. I woke at 9, handed in my essay, had a haircut, did a food shop and did a bit of reading, all before 1pm. For me to have achieved anything before 1 o'clock is pretty rare, i tend to fall into the student stereotype definitely of sleeping in for a good chunk of the morning.

It probably helped that when i woke up the sky was pretty much cloudless. Sadly that hasn't lasted, it's all gone a bit grey now, but while it lasted it added quite pleasantly to what was a pretty enjoyable morning.

The morning was to a large extent sound tracked by the second White Lies album, Ritual, which i really rate. I liked it from the moment i first heard one of the singles, Bigger than us, and since buying the album it's developed into a real favourite. Their first album highlighted how comfortable they were with the epic and the rousing, but the entire album had an almost maudlin air to it. Now there's nothing wrong with that in and of itself, and when i was in the right mood i actively appreciated the slightly depressing melodrama of it all, but it meant it couldn't really be music for all occasions.

The second album is definitely more uplifting, more optimistic, as highlighted by a lyric in the first track on it, "The only thing i've ever found, that's greater than it always sounds, is love." It's definitely not a lyric you'd have expected to hear on their first effort, an album that had the cheerily titled songs 'Death' and 'To Lose Your Life' as an opening double.

What makes it impressive is that it's still dark and epic in places, they've managed to retain what made the first album good, without it sounding quite so much like an album i might have written if i was having a really bad day.

In a little bit me and my mate are wandering over to the Leicester City ground to watch the varsity football matches between De Montfort University and Leicester University. Should be a good laugh and any excuse to watch a football match is one i'm going to take.

To finish this blog i'll post two songs, from a fairly new and promising sounding band, one which i've taken an interest in for musically irrelevant but geographical reasons. They're called 'The Crookes' after the area of Sheffield they formed in, an area neighbouring where i grew up. Sadly none of the members are actually from Sheffield, but they're good enough that i don't mind.

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