Out Lines – Conflats – Album Review by Killian Laher

Out Lines is a project teaming up James Graham from The Twilight Sad, with Kathryn Joseph and Marcus Mackay.  The resulting album, Conflats, opens with Buried Guns, a sparse duet between Graham and Joseph over a bed of chilly synths and minimal percussion.  Both their voices give full rein to their Scottish accents, combining well to create a kind of distant, slightly menacing piece of music.  The rest of the tracks largely follow this template – we get lengthy, dark songs like Our Beloved Dead, led by Graham, featuring the two singing about how “I’ll take you down with me”.  On the other hand Joseph puts in a fine performance on the alternately brooding then soaring The Left Behind.  There Is A Saved Place sees both voices combine to great effect over foreboding keyboards.  The mood very much remains the same throughout this rather short album, but knocking these guys for being too moody is pretty much like criticizing water for being too wet.  Slow synth rock is the order of the day, exemplified by closing track These Three Desire Lines, though consistent, slow pace can make the album feel flat at times.

It’s a considerable departure from The Twilight Sad.  However, there isn’t a huge amount of variation here, and while it’s enjoyable, there’s a feeling this could have been a whole lot more.

Track List –

1. Buried Guns
2. Our Beloved Dead
3. The Left Behind
4. There Is A Saved Place
5. If You Love Me Will You Lie
6. Open Shut
7. These Three Desire Lines

Buried Guns