Album Review: The Leg

aneagletosaturnhirethe-leg-s

The Leg: ‘An Eagle To Saturn’ (Song, By Toad Records)

One of the things about records being put out by people you know is that you do get a slight insight into at least something about the record that you might not otherwise. I first met Matthew Young of the very fine Song, By Toad Blog and latterly record company, five years ago, at a Camera Obscura gig in Edinburgh. It’s been great watching the label grow and seeing the (and I mean this as a compliment) weird and wonderful releases that have come out.

Let me start by a comment from Matthew on the label’s website about The Leg’s latest album: ‘I still can’t decide if I think this album is an amazing pop record or just plain fucking mental. Like most of the best albums I reckon it’s a bit of both.’ I think that’s probably very true. When I first put this on I really wasn’t sure that I was going to like it. It needed to be focused on and given some serious attention, rather than being approached as yet another record I needed to review.

Very wise. Because two of The Leg’s mainstays are both Pete Harvey and Alun Thomas. Pete Harvey has done a lot of work around the Edinburgh music scene and I look forward to his first solo album (I don’t know if such a thing is in existence yet but all the things of his I have heard over the years suggest this is going to be a very fine record indeed). Almost up against him is Alun Thomas, who is on drums and ‘singing.’

Barely half an hour long, what at first starts off as sounding almost cacophonous reveals itself to be an exciting and original album. Alun Thomas comes on like a Scots Tom Waits, Pete Harvey is a genius who seems to have been soaked in baroque and classical music as they made this record, and the end result is like a fiery Scotttish Pogues. This record will doubtless unnerve some but if you are prepared to give it the love and attention it deserves, you will find this a rewarding listen.

****

The Leg -‘Bake Yourself Silly.’ mp3

Forthcoming from Song, By Toad

aneagletosaturnhirethe-leg-s

Song, By Toad Records, as run by Matthew Young and his lovely wife are gearing up for a very busy 2012.

First up at the end of this month is the new album from The Leg. Entitled An Eagle To Saturn, so far two tracks have been made available to download for free. The first is ‘Twitching Stick’ which can be downloaded from their awesome 2012 sampler at the bottom of the page (new stuff from Meursault, too! Yusss!!) and they have now made ‘Bake Yourself Silly’ available to download for free, too:

Not only that, but according to Matthew Toad’s blog there are mysterious things afoot for the launch night in Edinburgh in two weeks’ time: “Saturday 28th April we will be holding a very special launch night at a secret venue in Edinburgh’s Old Town. Due to the slightly dubious nature of the space itself we’ll be meeting in the pub beforehand – probably upstairs at The Wash bar, which is the closest by – between 7 and 8pm, and will then all walk up to the place together.”

Find out more here