The Verve :: "Love Is Noise"

After 11 years and one misguided solo record, Richard Ashcroft and The Verve are back with a new album, Forth and a new single, "Love Is Noise." In the 11 years they've been gone, The Verve have seen bands play with strings, churning drums, and huge arena guitars; all trying to find that sound that could fill a rock club, and hopefully a stadium. But, bands that try to sound like they can fill a stadium, rarely do. They make some of the right moves but something is always missing. The songs. They end up trying to blow the doors off a thousand little rock clubs waiting for their turn when, in truth, they couldn't sell out even a small arena if their lives depended on it (citation: Interpol, 2007, Madison Square , 7,000 empty seats).

And back comes The Verve: an arena band in a market sick of arena bands and dying for one at the same time. Ashcroft doesn't even sound like he's trying on "Love Is Noise." His voice rarely taps his upper register and he manages to keep himself in second and third gear until the final minute. And he still kills it. Just kills it. With lyrics that could apply to just about anyone or anything ("love is noise/love is pain/love is these blues/that I'm singing again"), and a sample in the background that sounds like something tribal being played backwards on a cookie sheet, the song thrusts itself forward like a stumbling drunk. But a drunk with a purpose. Throw in the requisite soaring keyboard chords hiding just at the back of the mix and you've got a certifiable burner. The Verve left nothing to chance. It is both propulsive and immaculate.

So after 11 years drifting in and out of relevance, on and off the horizon - they've returned to Ithaka. The music landscape is probably more cannibalistic than the one they left. But that's why, when you come back home, you lay waste to everyone first.

Listen :: The Verve - Love Is Noise