311) Edvard Graham Lewis - Alreet?

The DM is in – any chance you can review Alreet? by Edvard Graham Lewis. Yep, no problem, oh there is one, who the hell is Edvard Graham Lewis?

Those in the know will be shaking their head at this idiot who claims he loves music but clearly knows sod all. In my teens I have said I knew it all, despite been proved wrong on an almost daily basis but now in my fifties I accept many (make that most) know much more than me,

Yes, Edvard Graham Lewis is Graham Lewis from Wire, and he has made a wonderful record.

These eight tracks are a mix of electronica, rhythms and, from reading online,  guitar contributions from ex Wire man Bruce Gilbert and a couple of his current Wire colleagues.

Lewis voice is rich and deep and portrays emotion, Switch a love song set to industrial electronic sounds blends together perfectly and he is authoritative on the spoken word Last Scene which has some majestic guitar moments and the opener Kinds of Whether where his voice fits into the spaces created by the music.  The wonder of this minimal music is bizarrely each listen you notice a subtle shift or something you missed last time round.

I Still Remember is the one I will go back to again and again as it builds to the chorus and the guitar chimes in with his soaring vocal over a forbidding tone.

The record ends with Who The Hell as the waves hit the shore and minimal music washes them away before Lewis steps forward to the mic, eight minutes of atmospheric tense music ending with the repeated mantra “without humanity, who the fuck are we.” Who am I to argue with that line. As the record finished my Apple Music shuffled, and Hip Priest was the next track which would not have sounded that far out of place on this thoroughly enjoyable record.

Have a listen, I am certainly glad I did.

7.5/10

GIVE IT A STREAM: I Still Remember