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1997, Gorilla Online Magazine
I'm not going to discuss how misunderstood are Cranes when everyone calls them Gothic, just as I refuse to discuss whether or not this will be their cross-over album. And please forget that my high-school's mascot was some such silly bird! (As, if you would ever be so spiteful to bring it up.) I will mention though that a little over two years ago I properly lauded half of their album Loved and quickly dismissed the rest because of irritating songs like Lilies. I hardly expect my mention of that album's shortcomings had any effect. But the group has apparently gone through a lot on their own and surfaced with a stunning album-the most memorable since their heavenly Wings of Joy and its epiphany laden tracks like Adoration.
After Loved, the band finally managed to release the long-awaited La Tragédie d'Oreste et Électre which is "a mock-filmscore" based on Jean-Paul Sartre's Les Mouches, itself a revision of Aeschylus's Greek tragedy. Then Cranes pressed on with work on a soundtrack for Tania Diez's Oscar-recognized film Scarborough Ahoy. Understandably, the band then took a six-month break during which guitarist Matt Cope left the band. In reaction, nuclear member Jim Shaw switched from drums to guitar (which is full of fresh sounds) and Parisian Manu Ros filled his seat behind the kit and performs beautifully, full of versatility as on the master-stroke To Be. Doubtless these changes (and likely the well-earned vacation prior to recording) did the trick. Add in the fact that Cranes recorded Population Four in only four weeks time in a converted barn in Sussex, England, in order "to retain a 'live' feel" and the result is an achingly beautiful (the cliché fits) album. Lot's of acoustic, or at least toned down, guitar here with fewer overdone unidentifiable sounds and effects like those found on Loved.
Songs like the opener, Tangled Up, and Sweet Unknown lull the listener melodically while perhaps the most pop-sounding Cranes tunes ever, Can't Get Away and an equally catchy-quiet Brazil are surprising and welcome additions to their uvre and are a perfect vehicle for Alison Shaw's angelic (too-oft-called childlike) voice. Meanwhile, tracks like Angel Bell, On Top of the World (what an ending-quite headphone worthy!) and Let Go push the hard-driving and flat-out rock 'n roll of which Cranes are more than capable but which they have sometimes overdone. Here, it's just right. Equally "just right" is the final song, To Be, which ranks along with Adoration as a closing song. To Be however is not the swoon at the end of the opus as is the former. Rather it is the subtle sweet ending to a hopeful album full of light and calm power that is Population Four.
Reviewed by Jeff Shipman
© Gorilla Online Magazine 1997
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