Album Premiere: The Space Between Two Oceans – Northern Blood (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

The thing about an opening track such as “Mid-Atlantic Ridge”, a spacious mix of acoustic guitar, French spoken word and distant electronica, is that it gives very little indication of what the album might be about once it gets going properly. It builds the perfect level of intrigue without giving anything away.

And if we look to “Drive West Fast,” the song that follows, for answers, it is not until it has moved past its raw roots textures and bluesy acoustic tones and cocooned itself in some epic rock sonics and alt-country anthemics that we get to what will, over the course of the next eight songs, prove to be the heart of the album.

But it is the fact that Northern Blood understands how to build dynamic by ebbing and flowing between those searing highs and some more considered and concise passages, that you find the album’s charm. Thus, songs such as “Hard Down Fast” can play with crescendo and understatement, spark and space, atmosphere and energy, to excellent effect.

“Wire Road” oozes indie finesse, shimmering beauty and the same sort of ragged romanticism that the likes of Tom Waits has made his calling card, helped in no small way by the fact that the vocals here come from a similar raw, underground and world-weary place.

“Just What I Needed” is the sound of raw, alt-rock infused with dark acoustica, a sort of southern gothic folk, “Nothing Fucking Changes,” similarly, is an apocalyptic folk-metal hybrid and “Pacific Tide” is the bookend response to the opening track, making the eight main songs here literally found in The Space Between Two Oceans.

It’s an intriguing album that wanders between two extremes, rock and roots and creates its light and shade by navigating towards one sonic tide or another, as required and doing so with precision. It is perhaps apposite that the Atlantic Ocean, being the sea of Atlas himself, is associated with muscularity and strength, whilst Pacific is a word synonymous with tranquillity and calm – perfect reference points for an album made out of an equal amount of muscle and melody, grit and grace.