The Verve – Forth

Mri Associated 2008

Rating: 7/10

It’s been over ten years since the Verve released their last album, Urban Hymns, to a world just finally weaning itself of Britpop. The Verve never became as famous as Oasis or as experimental as Blur, but in singer-songwriter Richard Ashcroft they had one of England’s most creatively gifted talents. Forth, their first album since they broke up and reformed, is a refreshing slice of British guitar rock that sizzles and burns in all the right places, calling up a happier time where music based on melody and feeling actually was at the top of the charts.

Guitarist Nick McCabe is just as responsible for Forth’s sound as the velvet pipes of Ashcroft, and his soaring guitar lays much of the groundwork and fills in the texture on bluesy jams like “Rather Be” or the shoegaze shimmer of “Judas.” The boogie-punk roar that McCabe splices into the appropriately titled “Noise Epic” with one genius stroke begs to be played along with on air guitar. The Verve are old pros at creating songs that practically live in their own atmosphere, and the layers of sound that decorate Forth lead to tunes that reveal new, subtle differences with each listen.

Such care produces songs that regularly pass the five-minute mark and beyond; six songs go well over the six-minute mark, and while at times it can be the album’s biggest plus, it also tends to lead to tracks that drag rather than evolve. The hazy dream-rock of “Columbo” is one such example, a song that never really develops much beyond its first minute, and ill-advised ballads like “Valium Skies” take Ashcroft’s emotive voice in the wrong direction.

Thankfully for the Verve, however, ten years have not dulled their pop sensibilities nor their songwriting abilities, and Forth is a welcome return to form in an environment that prizes bland pop-rock and mechanical R&B above all others.