The Durutti Column – Renascent – Album Review
by Killian Laher

I never thought we’d see another album from Vini Reilly, after enduring three strokes, I believe, between 2010 and 2013, and a struggle with poverty, both of which rendered him unable to play the guitar for several years.  Reilly was always on the margins, never really had that moment of cut through, despite a high-profile guest slot on Morrissey’s 1988 album Viva Hate, and then in the 2002 Factory Records film 24 Hour Party People, when none other than God himself (!) described Durutti Column music as “good music to chill out to”.  But now we have this, the first Durutti Column album in 15 years.

It opens with the brief, shimmering Echoes In The Memory, which is an excellent showcase of Reilly’s unshowy but intricate echoey guitar patterns.  Your Shadow at Morning is best described as that early morning, barely awake feeling, conveyed really well through Reilly’s textured guitar playing.  It’s as good as anything he’s done in the last 40 years, and it’s followed by the excellent, soaring instrumental Time Past and Present, while Agonistes has his guitar patterns joined by Caolfhionn Rose on sweet-sounding wordless vocals.

Liars is the first real departure, with the haunting textures joined by Vini Reilly’s own voice, doing an almost rap-style vocal, repeating phrases like “I am sorry… I love you”; the effect is strange.  The drum-dominated Your Shadow at Evening picks up the pace of the album but doesn’t quite resonate.  Sargasso Sea is a change in tack, a gorgeous piano torch ballad sung by Caolfhionn Rose.  It’s quite unlike anything else in the Durutti Column back catalogue but all the better for it.  It’s followed by Scammer, which has a slurred, drawling Vini Reilly vocal.  The stately For Friends Everywhere, although a rework of an old track For Belgian Friends, is actually another departure, a lovely piano piece featuring violin and French horn.

This could well be your comedown soundtrack of the summer; it’s great to have something new from Vini Reilly.  It may just spark a resurgence of interest in the Durutti Column, hopefully.

Liars