Yep, I absolutely love this. Sat down with it tonight and had the lyrics in front of me. Definitely gonna be an end-of-year favourite for me. I love the variety; you've got upbeat indie pop numbers like Ruin (except they're not stereotypical indie pop, they've got a slightly darker edge to them), slow-burn epics like Nothin' But Time (love Iggy Pop's cameo), lovely contemplative piano tracks like Manhattan, great guitar lines (Cherokee, which I really get an early 80s U2 vibe from until she starts singing), stomping guitar tracks in Silent Machine (which gets even better when it goes a bit electro) and Peace and Love, that slower/more relaxed middle section of Always on My Own-Real Life-Human Being which I think will reveal more upon further listens, even the auto tune on 3,6,9 is really well used.
Yet another example of why I love this place... would never have even heard of this otherwise, and wouldn't have even tried it without some of the hype here, so thank you all. So glad I gave it a shot.
The crescendo piano in Nothin' But Time reminds me of another song that I can't quite name at the moment... unless I'm just thinking of crescendo piano songs in general. The lyrics remind me of Bowie's Cygnet Committee, at least the last part.
And it seems to me some of the lyrics are concerned with the plight of the third world... take Ruin:
Bitching, complaining, and some people ain't got shit to eat
Bitching, moaning, so many people you know what they ain't got
What are we doing
We're sitting on a ruin
And Human Being
You got a right to scream when they don't want you to speak
You got a right to be what you want and where you want to be
You got a right to believe to breathe
You got a right you're a human being
...
See the people on TV get shot in their own very street
People just like you people just like me
I'm just talking out of my arse now, but yes, this is a great album