An occasional feature between now and mid-December, hopefully giving you time to put some records on your list to Santa. It’s not a rundown by any stretch of the imagination, but simply a chance for me to mention a few albums that have brought me immense pleasure thanks to them being released in 2024.
Harm’s Way – Ducks Ltd.
I’ve had a bit of a rough time, health wise, for a fair bit of 2024. For the most part, I’ve coped OK, albeit a long-planned and much anticipated visit to Los Angeles last June had to be shelved. There’s also been instances when I’ve not felt up to going out of a day or an evening, partly through feeling run down or not wanting to put myself in any position that whatever infectious illness or virus I might be carrying could be passed on to others in my immediate vicinity. A few football matches and gigs have been missed, almost always at short notice. I don’t mind it too much if it’s a singer or band who might be back in Glasgow or thereabouts in the not too distant future, but I was really pissed off when I had to forego my tickets to a show by Ducks Ltd, a duo from Toronto, who came here back in May, when they were promoting the release of their new album, Harm’s Way. Especially with the knowledge of having seen then before, down in Manchester back in 2022.
Ducks Ltd. consists of Tom Mcgreevy on vocals, rhythm guitar and bass, and Evan Lewis on lead guitar. The record company behind their releases name check bands such as Felt, Orange Juice, and The Go-Betweens as being huge influences and describe their songs as ‘stitched together layers of intricate melodies…. to make moving, nostalgic music — an irresistible combination that radiates energy and provokes introspection.’ The thing is, they’re not wrong about the influences, nor is the wordsmith exaggerating things, which means all my boxes are very much ticked.
The music on their debut EP, Get Bleak (2019) and debut album, Modern Fiction (2021) really lived up to expectations. My only surprise was that they didn’t achieve more recognition, but then again, I suppose the music they make for our enjoyment is a little bit out of fashion in the modern era. They haven’t compromised things one iota with Harm’s Way, which was issued jointly by the Toronto-based label Royal Mountain Records and the Washington D.C, based Carpark Records. It’s jangle pop at its finest, and given just how much of this blog over the past 18 years has focussed on that sort of sound, it can’t come as any shock just how much I’m going to fawn over them.
That was the advance single from the album, and the only one which comes with any sort of promo video, although a number of tracks are online with what are described as ‘official lyric videos’, including this three-minute gem
mp3: Ducks Ltd. – Train Full of Gasoline
The album has just nine tracks, but those of us quick enough to get one of the limited edition releases on a strangely coloured vinyl (described as ‘Stone and Hedge Splatter’) also received a bonus 7″ single, one of whose tracks has also recently been given an ‘official vizualizer video’:-
Ducks Ltd. won’t change anything about anyone’s life, but they will bring an immense amount of satisfaction to those who are keen on listening to intelligent, jaunty, upbeat indie-pop that makes you pine for the days when your waist-line was thinner and your hair was either more plentiful and/or a different colour than what confronts you from the mirror each and every day.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 