If I get the opportunity to interview Sam Healy again, I have a number of questions...
United Wire came out of the blue. If you'd have asked me six months ago if I thought North Atlantic Oscillation would ever release another album, I would have said, probably not, but I did expect Sam to produce music again.
Before we start, let's put something into context here. I'm a huge fan of NAO; they are probably my favourite band of the 21st century. The Third Day is arguably one of the three best albums of this century, while Sam's first Sand album is arguably the best pop/prog album ever. Grind Show, that came out about five years ago, was a far more 'difficult' album, in my opinion; it lacked the cohesion of the previous albums, plus it was really a solo outing for Healy as Chris Howard and Ben Martin had left, presumably because the band simply wasn't being as successful as they deserved to be. I wish that major radio stations had heard The Third Day when it came out, because I think we'd have a different situation now if they had. It's an album with Radio6 written all over it, sadly Radio6 ignored it.
Grind Show felt half finished at times and simply didn't feel like a North Atlantic Oscillation album; there were moments, but in general I play the previous three albums more than the 2018 outing. That said, Grind Show was also extremely experimental; there were ideas that Healy was introducing that were maybe from a different place to the majority of people who had followed the band. While I'd always struggle to suggest NAO were a 'rock' band, there are elements of prog, post and classic rock in their back catalogue, Grind Show seemed to be missing that on most of the tracks. There were no real [grappling] hooks.
United Wire sounds like a North Atlantic Oscillation album. Yes, it has many elements from Grind Show, but in general it's more accessible, more immediate and like many of their previous recordings you can hear the influences again. This album channels Radiohead, Peter Gabriel and a number of classic 'prog' artists but also Underworld, Chemical Brothers, Velvet Underground and of course Talk Talk; but it also has so much more in it. There's a depth in this album that was missing from the last one. The layers are richer, the tempo changes clear and the music has some proper tunes. It's just ... good and at times it does that thing that Grind Show never did - it sent shivers down my spine.
I have to appreciate that while Sam Healy is probably approaching 40 now, he's still from a very different generation to me, so for his music to have had such a profound effect is no mean feat; it's a proper achievement. I feel honoured to have found a musician who tickles my fancy so deliberately.
In many ways the back half of the album is stronger than the front; it kind of kicks off with Matryoshka (Russian Doll) which starts off as an homage to Radiohead's Kid A and then drifts into classic NAO back catalogue before drifting back out. Healy's tunes that are often constructed from bits and pieces, which I always felt odd about, almost like it isn't song writing but song making; this track feels that way but with more cohesion.
Torch, Cage and Powder are almost as powerful as the three closing tracks on The Third Day, with Torch feeling like a NAO rock song, Cage revisiting uncommon elements from the back catalogue and Powder feeling almost like a eulogy; 'a goodbye and thanks for ignoring us' type of song. Whatever it is it rounds off an extremely accessible album that is full of surprises.
I always felt that The Third Day should be played without gaps - no up to 5 second lull while the next track comes on; The Third Day feels like a fantastic concept album, even if it isn't. United Wire comes in a variety of formats, but the one which works the best is the 'merged' version, which effectively makes the album one continuous piece of music for 45 minutes and if you do that you'll see how it works and why United Wire is a really great album; a totally unexpected piece of music that defies expectations and proves to me, once and for all, that Sam Healy is one of the most talented musicians of his generation, we just need the rest of the world to cotton on...
8/10
1 Clock
2 Corridor
3 Rosewood
4 Glyph
5 Matryoshka
6 Coil
7 Torch
8 Cage
9 Powder
10 Recoil
Released by Vineland Music
North Atlantic Oscillation Bandcamp
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