Album Review: Tindersticks, ‘The Hungry Saw’

If you know Tindersticks, you’ll be more than familiar with the world they inhabit.

It’s a sonic landscape of occasional desolation, soothing melancholy and introspective melody, all hazed out through a 3am red-wine-and-cigarettes blurry filter. In short: if you’re looking for an album to soundtrack the million-plus hours of GTA IV rampages you’re going to be enjoying from Tuesday, you need to search elsewhere.

If, however, you’re looking for a haunting, swelling, oddly fitting mixture of the stripped-back and the orchestral, then The Hungry Saw - Tindersticks’ first album since 2003’s Waiting For The Moon, and the seventh in their catalogue so far - may just float your boat nicely.

First things first: there’s no denying that Stuart Staples’ vocals are a divisive force. Like Morrissey before him, he’s the sort of frontman who’ll either have you hanging on his every nuance or gnashing your teeth in frustration. Yet chances are - even if you’re not too keen at first - you’ll be able to acclimatise yourself to his purring slur and enjoy the musical background that accompanies it.

And you know what? It’s a great background. For something so ostensibly laid back and unhurried, it’s remarkable to hear that the bulk of the The Hungry Saw was laid down in a frenzied eight-day recording session. It’s a whirlwind creation that isn’t reflected at all in the sound - from the sparse instrumental that kicks off the album to sweeping high point The Other Side Of The World, this feels like it was a laboured five years in the making. Not that that’s a bad thing.

If hecklerspray is making this sound like some self-obsessed dark-night-of-the-soul scenario, we apologise. There’s a lot of humour and playfulness on The Hungry Saw, with deadpan musings settling alongside emotional and thought-provoking ones. There’s also a plethora of influences that fuse their way into the Tindersticks sound - from the demeanour of the modern Joy Division revivalists to the Mormon acoustics of Low to more interesting elements going on in the American Alt-Country scene.

If you’re arriving fresh to the band, don’t expect instant reward. Yet give The Hungry Saw your time and - more importantly - your attention, and we’re willing to bet it’ll win you over.

The Hungry Saw is released today on Beggars Banquet.