Candidate - Oxengate [Snowstorm album]

I am not generally in the habit of reading what other people think about records before I review them, but in the case of Candidate’s fifth album ‘Oxengate’ I accidentally stumbled across a review of it in the Sunday Times’ Culture section. And not just any review, this was an ‘Album Of The Week’, five star declaration of greatness that struck me with some surprise seeing as on initial listens it had inspired little above a pleasant apathy. Time for a re-evaluation perhaps…

It is of little surprise that the likes of the Sunday Times and Q magazine are full of praise for the trio’s brand of song, for they peddle a brand of classic songwriting that borrows from the accessible end of everything from 60s folk, to 70s singer songwriters, to 80s power ballads. The album does, though, begin in impressive form. ‘Furlough’ is a timeless slow-burner that centres on the bewitching repetition of the phrase “I will wander through your dreams tonight”. Joel Morris’s vocals are as impressive as the understated instrumentation that avoids any temptation the band may have had for the overblown.

The follow up to ‘Furlough’, however, is the middle of the road country song ‘(Going Back To’ Amsterdam’ which has little going for it past the annoyingly catchy opening harmony. When relying on classic songwriting, as Candidate do, there is a very fine line between excellent and average and it is this dichotomy that proves to be Candidate’s downfall. On an album totalling 16 tracks, there are a number of very good songs but their individual qualities are tarnished by the lesser ones, in the minority though they probably are.

There is plenty of quality though. ‘Field Recording I’ utilises some attractive CSN&Y harmonies, while ‘Harryhausen’ is another classic low-key pop ballad with its enduring “It’s almost just like the first time” chorus and witty poke at artificiality of its lyrics. The touching ballad ‘Tiny Tim’ is also expertly delivered, the unsettlingly atmospheric ‘Avro No. I’ adds depth to the album and ‘The Sky’ is a suitably anthemic end to the album. One can’t help thinking that this ending comes a little late though as the instrumental vignettes and half-songs dotted throughout the album mean it does drag on a little. And not everything is quite as good as the above either. ‘When They Rose From The Reeds’ attempts an Indian mysticism and half gets there, the a capella ‘Wesley’ repeats the mass vocal trick of ‘Amsterdam’ with similarly undesirable results, and ‘Swear It Will Snow’ and ‘Marie Alexander’ are merely decent ballads. It seems my initial thoughts were about right, and, in truth, if ‘Oxengate’ was a 12 track rather than 16 track album I am sure this would be a much more positive review.

This is by no means fashionable music, and that is in no way a criticism but a mere statement of fact. ‘Oxengate’ benefits from purity of songcraft, technical excellence and great production and should by rights be gracing a larger number of coffee tables around Britain than it probably will. It is, though, bereft of much in the way of excitement. Not every album needs to be thus, of course – some bands are able rest safe in the knowledge that they make good, listenable music. Candidate is one such band and ‘Oxengate’ is just that: a ‘good’ album.

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First published on rockfeedback.com. See it here.