Health: HEALTH

Is band "x" or artist "y" really the greatest musical offering since sliced bread? Cutting through the hype can often be difficult.

Sometimes, instead of the breath of fresh air which the hot new album is purported to be, an album which stretches the boundaries of what has come before you can sometimes be left with something which has been thrown together with all the care of a McDonald's hamburger, which only claim to uniqueness is that noone else is idiotic enough to touch the same dire recipe.

"Health" is an album that leaves the ground somewhat muddy, convenienting slotting into neither of the aforementioned options. On one hand, there are songs which acheive everything which they were intended to. "Perfect Skin", "Lost Time" and "Triceratops" are all fine examples of the cold production style which ferments beneath the surface, sounding as though it was recorded in an ice ridden chamber, vocals keeping in like manner, appearing as shrill murmurs in the cool background atmospheres.

On the other hand they feature sounds which although performed live may have sounded incredible, on record seem totally devoid of any semblance of unity, almost feeling like they were improvised off the cuff and then it was decided that that was that, leading to any other ideas gestating to be aborted in their infancy. This is the case with "Zoothorns", starting out with a beautiful arrangement of slowly dripped sounds which conjure up the feeling of being trapped in some kind of weird demented rain forest with strands of strange textures and blends of uniquely used effects. Much like the actual rainforests, this is destroyed within 50 seconds as Health begin to recklessly throw as many unnecessary sounds as possible the listeners way!

With the track "Courtship", the question must be posed as to whether some of the noises were the result of anunruly child being allowed to play with the studio equipment, such is the randomness and juvenility of the effects. What mature adult thinks that keyboard samples of farm animals are a relevant and intelligent offering to the musical equation. Well, that's what a fair amount of Health's concepts seem to rely upon.

That being said there is a great deal more good than bad throughout the run of the album as "Glitter Pills" proves, succeeding in adding obscure noises to breaks. Although it never quite gets the kick-up the backside that it needed to be a truly memorable experience.

The start, stop, wait, wait, start formula appears quite frequently. Imagine if you will the introduction to Biffy Clyro's "Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies" for help on that one. When the album reaches "//M" it is a welcome lead-up to one of the more organized approaches the record has on offer. What becomes an apparent trademark over the album is the connection between the drums and guitar which appear to be joined at the hip. This union should, in time, become an entirely different instrument in itself for Health should they continue to develop it behind closed doors.

So it is, as is always the case with experiments, whether it be in physics, music, cookery, elephant and pig crossbreeding or any other field: where there is success there are also failures and that is the case with "Health", though as long as they keep working hard on their sound there's no doubt that that, in time, they will only improve.