Minor Victories - Minor Victories
6/10
Editors’ Justin Lockey intended Minor Victories to combine extreme noise with delicate female vocals. As the project developed, he roped in brother Mark, Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite and Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell. Somewhere along the line, the extreme noise element got lost and we have an indie/post-rock/shoegaze supergroup.
It is fair to say that nothing on here really strays too far away from the protaganists’ day jobs. Representing the best of Minor Victories, A Hundred Ropes and Breaking My Light combine Fever Ray, Mogwai’s soundtrack to Les Revenants and Clint Mansell’s film work with Kronos Quartet. Other highlights include The Thief and For You Always, the former featuring ethereal vocals from Rachel over a widescreen cinemascope of post-rock guitars and swooning strings whilst the latter is a semi-spoken word, almost Arab Strap-style tale of unconsummated love.
Less good are the woozy, wonky take on The Primitives’ Crash that is Scattered Ashes (Song For Richard) and Out To Sea’s mix of Broadcast and British Sea Power’s Man Of Arran.
In my experience, supergroups are either brilliant or utter rubbish. Minor Victories edge towards the former. Nothing on here is truly great but, whilst a couple of tracks do misfire, there’s nothing dreadful either. Worth a listen and a second album might be truly special.
6/10
