All I Did Was Tell Them the Truth and They Thought It Was Hell

Personnel: Matt Slade (vocals, guitar, strings, synthesizer, percussion, programming); Daniel Wainright (vocals, programming).
Photographer: Brandi Slate.
Credit to Matt Slate, the founder and center of King of Spain, for a rather in-your-face title, though it does make the "moody side of Jesus and Mary Chain" album starter "Basement Fire" seem a bit of a contrast. But that blend of reverb-heavy/softly sung vocals, crisp drum machine pulses, and general guitar atmospherics is attractive if familiar enough. "Motions" is where his singing voice steps out more cleanly to the fore, with a gentle, tense insistence running through not merely the vocals but the performance as a whole. From these two points the album moves forward in an engaging and surprisingly varied way -- if the overall instrumental approach doesn't vary, how Slate and new bandmate Daniel Wainwright work with both their voices and arrangements creates a series of gentle, engaging shifts throughout. A song can be as suddenly stirring as "Destiny Delayed," thanks to how the chorus adds just enough energy and build without ever fully breaking, or can extrapolate further calm tension as on "Seamless Spotless Sidewalks (Redux)," nervous percussion tapping and clicking along as the singing and playing make their calm way forward. When Slate takes a turn toward the romantic -- or at least the romantic feeling -- as on the title track and "Green Eyes," the ghost of the Byrds and more can be heard, with a solo guitar coda for the latter providing another nice, appropriate touch. "Ourselves in Another" might be a secret winner, just for the way that the guitar solos could be something from Alex Lifeson of Rush -- at least in one of his more serene and stately but still aiming-for-the-sky moments. ~ Ned Raggett