Bad Books - III (2019)

1) Wheel Well; 2) UFO; 3) Myths Made Plain; 4) Lake House; 5) I Love You, I'm Sorry, Please Help Me, Thank You; 6) Neighborhood; 7) I Wrote It Down for You; 8) Left Your Body; 9) Supposed to Be; 10) Army

Kevin Devine and Manchester Orchestra resurrect their collaboration to bring aching folk songs from the edge of space.

Key tracks: "UFO", "I Love You, I'm Sorry, Please Help Me, Thank You", "Left Your Body"

The first two Bad Books albums were a straightforward collaboration between Manchester Orchestra and Kevin Devine: Manchester Orchestra got to flesh out the songwriting of a different frontman, while Devine got the chance to have a different set of players behind him. Those two albums slot quite comfortably in the continuum for both artists but III, the reunion album (the last Bad Books album prior to this was released in 2012), operates a little differently. The collaboration has also shrunk down to just three people with Devine and Manchester Orchestra's frontman Andy Hull and guitarist Robert McDowell. As the removal of the rhythm section makes it clear, the aim has been to move things to a simpler territory: Devine and Hull alternate in the frontman role across ten acoustic folk songs, intimate and drilling down to the basics.

Though not quite. The base sound of III is sparse but it's a remarkably rich album sonically. All over the record are all kinds of atmospheric elements swiveling in and out of existence: synthesizer effects, keyboard pads, electronic shimmer, ambient-esque guitar textures, unidentifiable sounds faintly heard somewhere at the back of the song. In their core each song on III is a gentle campfire moment, but from a production perspective that campfire is somewhere at the edge of the galaxy, illuminating the dark between distant stars - one review described it as "Simon & Garfunkel in space", and it's a description that hasn't left my head. Despite the intentionally limited structural elements the songs are heavily layered, leaving the aching melodies across the album to float into the unlimited horizon somewhere beyond the asteroid belt.

And it is very much an aching album. Both Devine and Hull have gently-spoken voices that manage to stir an incredible amount of emotion when paired with the right kind of melancholy, and they revel in it here. While the songs are largely dominated by one of the two frontmen (apart from the closing mini-epic "Army" where they swap verses throughout), they constantly harmonise with one another and the end result is positively elegiac, both sad and almost life-affirmingly beautiful in how touching it can be. III is above all a gorgeous album that creates its own soundscape and forms a comforting blanket out of it. Many of the best songs - "Wheel Well", "UFO", "Lake House", "Left Your Body" - are sad songs full of confusion and uncertainty, but they act like little hymns to hold onto during the turmoil.

Maybe that's the reason why the stand-out moment of the album is its one moment of genuine hope for the future. The Devine-lead "I Love You, I'm Sorry, Please Help Me, Thank You" is a phenomenal song that plays out with clarity and down-to-earth presence that the rest of the album avoids, grounding the soung for a brief moment of happiness. Devine's realisation on the meaning of life when holding his baby daughter in his arms and the mix of parental worry and careful hope he feels fuels a song that sounds like a skyscraping anthem despite its minimal arrangement. It's not just the best song on the album but - as someone who looped into this through his general appreciation for Devine first and foremost - it's also one of the best songs Devine has written, period.

III is generally somewhat of a stand-out. Bad Books up to this album have been nice - fine - good - but definitely a side project for both parties involved. By transforming its shape into something else III not just breaks apart from the first two albums in sound but also in resonance, underlining the strengths of its creators with ideas and elements that sound novel in this particular context. It sounds like a meaningful album, part of the canon and not a flight of fancy for the hardcore fans to listen to. It's a beautiful album, an extended moment of quiet serenity that makes something peaceful out of something sad - and in these chaotic years when this is being written, something like that is most definitely welcomed.

Rating: 8/10