Stereophonics - 'It Means Nothing'
There are some songs that you hear at some awful, broken moment at 4am and suddenly become entirely spellbound by, as they simultaneously soothe and further discombobulate your mind until you are left, weeping in a heap. Almost always they have a certain sort of chimy guitar playing and mournful lyrics, moving at a steady pace between being a ballad and being a rock song, wrapping you in hypnotic folds of their melancholy.
The most recent song to do this to me was 'Jesus Christ' by Brand New, which reduces me to a gibbering wreck almost every time I hear it, with cathartic waves of 'oh my god you guys, things have gone really wrong around here.' For other people of course it's different songs and by no means do songs have to fit this pattern to reduce me or anyone else to a blubbering mess but still, there is a certain sound that says 'this is the broken 4am song, get yer funky tear ducts on.'
The Stereophonics are no strangers to miserable, broken songs but this is probably their most obvious for quite some time; it ticks along in the normal segmented build-up of any good 4am song, with an arty, post-apocalyptic video as Kelly Jones bemoans the lack of meaning in his life following the departure of a beloved lady. The Snow Patrol trick, essentially, although Gary Lightbody's keening voice is more suited to the overblown production than Mr Jones' rasp.
I can see that this song will mean a lot to some people and that despite my general cynicism towards the Stereophonics, I think it's probably very genuine but it strikes me as a song which, despite the fact it's clearly aiming for the minimal 4am sensation, could do with a hefty dollop of really big, stupid histrionics.
Not that the song isn't histrionic enough already but it's got a fairly good tune and if it just pushed itself out a bit more, got a bit shouty and really broke down it would propel itself to entire new heights of effectiveness. As it is, it ends up leaving me thinking it's a nice go but it doesn't quite leave me as breathless and spellbound as it would clearly like to.
Download: Out now
CD Released: October 1st
(Hazel Robinson)
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