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DAYS RUN AWAY
(Art & Industry import)
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There was no reason to expect the reunion album from England’s House of Love to be anything other than a reprise of their famed efforts for the notorious Creation label, efforts that worked just fine back in 1988 and ’89. Days Run Away, however, finds the band diversifying their sound. Terry Bickers’s guitar is still the foundation, and Guy Chadwick’s vocals are their more obvious identity. But the chiming Byrds-by-way-of-Smiths arpeggios that dominated their 1988 House of Love debut have been bolstered by deeper textures and more layered melodies. The title track bounces along crisply; "Already Gone" showcases their neo-folk sensibility, but with an unusually brisk backbeat. Rampant stories of out-of-control egos and allegations of mental instability made the prospect of this reunion disc, which has yet to be released stateside, remote indeed. But at a time when England’s latest headline grabbers, the Libertines, have made it fashionable to pen brotherly odes to friendship and forgiveness, Bickers and Chadwick respond with "Maybe You Know," a song that suggests that couching fond memories in a fine melody is a great way to put the baggage of past problems right where it belongs — in the past.
