Walking calmly out of five years of lamentation, in billowing mist and smoke, a little dishevelled but undaunted, I LIKE TRAINS have dusted their typography, checked their balance, taken up new bearings and reset their epic journey, out of mourning for the past, towards something a little more like a future, with the old world left, out of its depth, in pieces.
"Sea of Regrets" has a familiar shape. The near-six minutes of gathering volume and the unfolding of lugubrious heartache are what we know and what so many love very dearly. This time round though there is a gentleness and sympathy amongst the power and the suppressed rage of earlier songs. Strings have been subtly added and a choir of voices appear. All are embellished with a shining hint of pedal steel guitar. It is a very beautiful piece. A haunting five note figure (reminiscent of the "Two Brothers" section of "The Christmas Tree Ship" from last year) is passed between guitar and strings as the song builds and Dave Martin moves from whispered speech to full voiced singing. The last notes shimmer away into a dawn of something hopeful and lucent.
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B side, "The Spark" is a 6/8 dance of slow death. It's a brand new song - not yet listed in any live performances. It's mysterious and dark, with the precision of "24 years" and the riddle of "fire in out veins, spreading to our hearts", with hands idle and time wasted. I confess to enjoying the not knowing. The fragments of intensity are such a good excuse to keep returning. The story (as with "Sea of Regrets" will emerge soon enough.
It's time to start paying attention again.
www.iliketrains.co.uk
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