Music Review

09 January 2009 22:09 BST

Ash: Twilight of the Innocents

Infectious, out July 2nd.

In a nutshell…

Vintage, unassuming, welcome, impressive.

What's it all about?

Ash have returned to the music scene with their first studio album since 2004's Meltdown and what bassist Mark Hamilton has described as "a kick up the a**e". Twilight of the Innocents is a 12-track piece of vintage Ash that sees them reach the standards of debut album 1977 and super-single Burn Baby Burn (from the band's third album, Free All Angels).

Starting with the drum-filled and statement-like opener I Started a Fire, through the singles You Can't Have it All and Polaris to the epic Twilight of the Innocents at the end of the album, this is 12 tracks of everything you could want from Ash. Apparently this will be Ash's last album, with the band choosing to just produce singles in the future for the digital age.

Who's it by

Ash arrived on the UK music scene in the second half of the 1990s, when the band's front man Tim Wheeler was still a teenager (he opened his A level results live on Radio 1). The Northern Irishman was joined by Hamilton and Rick McMurray on drums for 1977, which spawned the 90s classic single Girl From Mars. Since then, Charlotte Hatherley has been and gone as a guitarist - joining for the V97 music festival - and the band have moved to different parts of the world, with Wheeler and Hamilton both now residents of New York City and McMurray having moved from Northern Ireland to Scotland.

Three other studio albums and a singles collection have emerged between 1977 and Twilight of the Innocents, as well as memorable singles such as Shining Light, for which Wheeler grabbed an Ivor Novello award.

As an example…

"I'm losing my mind, it comes too easily / Blaming someone else, for your misery / Walking on eggshells, until you're feeling bad / This psycho drone is taking over my life." - From You Can't Have it All

Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys

Twilight of the Innocents will no doubt strike a chord with Ash fans, who have waited a decent amount for time for new music from the band. Wheeler's won an Ivor Novello before, so who's to say that the new album - which is surely influenced by the relocation of two band members to the US - cannot find success on both sides of the Atlantic?

What the others say

"Twilight of the Innocents is far more adventurous than one might expect." - the Guardian

"If this is to be the end in this format, Twilight of the Innocents is a fabulous epitaph" - BBC Music

So is it any good?

Twilight of the Innocents is everything you would want from an Ash album - it has released singles and potential singles, perhaps echoing the band's sentiments to become a singles-only outfit for the digital age we live in.

It's incredibly easy to listen to, with the opening song pulling you right into the Ash sound. Despite the changes - personnel, location - the great thing about Ash is that they do not really change much at all (apart from never returning to the simply horrific Nu-Clear Sounds template).

I saw Ash live eight years ago and judging by the songs on this new album I'm pretty sure if I saw them live in their new base of New York now, rather than on a stage in Norwich as I did then, they would sound pretty much the same but with slightly different words. And I think I like that.

7/10

Chris Webber