Cities Burning Down review

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The first review I've found - will post more if I find any,

www.musosguide.com/?p=2387

Text:

Howling Bells are a funny one.

There’s no reason to think that they should sound like other Antipodean recording artistes, but it is startling that their sound is indicative of an adolescence mired in angst and clouded by misery. An adolescence spent in Britain, if you will.

But Australian they are, and a band out of time, as singer Juanita Stein’s ethereal voice elevates the folk goths to something really quite exquisite.

‘Cities Burning Down’ sees the Bells plowing the auditorily dense shoegazing soundscape, with astounding results. From an intro beat that fades in like a Kevin Shields dream sequence, Stein’s vocal is truly captivating from the off, haunting and almost primal as “Trapped in rising water”, she croons. She is Cassandra, telling of doom and destruction against an elegiac backing.

The song’s swelling guitars mark out its intense melancholia, with a distressing awareness of the inevitable - “Cities burning down again…”. Howling Bells have a lovely knack of merging all the presence of a stadium filler Simple Minds-style with a delicious outsider schtick, aping goth gloom like a post-modern The Cure.

As a pre-cursor to the upcoming Radio Wars album, ‘Cities Burning Down’ carries tremendous weight. It’s clear that the Bells have been savvy enough not to desert their successful formula, but, in this song anyway, they are striding once again into that dark night, and it’s delicious.

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Here's another one:

www.glasswerk.co.uk/reviews/london/7745/Howling+Bells

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The spirit of The Sonic Youth is slid out with ambient dripping effect.

'Cities Burning Down’, through the wandering guitars and pulsing percussion, replicates closer than most modern efforts of this ilk, the atmospheric impact that Thurston Moore and gang regularly used to achieve. There is a natural, slightly eerie feel to this lead single from what could be one of the dark horse second albums of 2009, ‘Radio Wars’.

Morbid life is captured almost as precisely as the great Edgar Alan Poe. At times, a Mogwai-esque instrumental build blends together neatly with the above mentioned The Sonic Youth touch and the low-key, yet slightly animated vocals of Juanita Stein.

Chilling mystery and swish tempo builds are conjured almost effortlessly, hinting at what Da Bells could achieve their forthcoming second album.

This being, achieving the sort of acclaim and atmospheric royalty status that many thought should have been bestowed upon them with their debut album.

[tealovertoma]

I really love the track... but I've loved it since it was out as a b-side, meaning I've listened to it dozens upon dozens of times even before the album leaked. As a result it's the one track I often skip on the album; I've grown tired of it =/

[riseandfall]

See I was just commenting in another thread as I've just received a promo copy of Radio Wars in the post and I've not taken to it until now and I love it.
n the last couple of months I've caught up and got all the singles from the debut, some vinyl and promo CDRs including Into The Chaos and i wasn't that fussed when I heard it but I now I think its great.

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Another one:

www.komodorock.com/latest-tour-news/tour-dates/howling-bells-announce-uk-tour-and-new-single-2009012211162/

Text:
In case you didn’t realise it, Howling Bells are back with a vengeance in 2009. After a two year absence following the release of their elegantly haunting debut album, spent recording and touring with the likes of the Killers and Mercury Rev, the quartet of Juanita Stein, Joel Stein, Brendan Picchio and Glenn Moule are ready to unleash their singular charms on the world all over again.

You would, in all probability, have heard the first, scintillating taster of what’s to come with “Into the Chaos”, which NME named their Track of the Week and which went on to burn up the airwaves as well with its intoxicating mixture of smouldering vocals and dizzying strings. But it is with “Cities Burning Down”, their first full single release from their forthcoming, lushly Technicolor second album “Radio Wars”, that the Bells really show what they have in store for us.

Indeed, as on the B-side, “Hearts and Armour”, “Cities Burning Down” reveals itself as a smouldering, glittering anthem in waiting, the kind which raises the hairs on the backs of necks even while lodging itself firmly in the brain. Which is not to say that Howling Bells have lost any of their renowned flair for drama; far from it. The song has a haunted, cinematic quality, egged on by lead singer Juanita Stein, who uses that remarkable voice of hers to alternately seduce and taunt the spellbound listener. Yes, it is a bright, shiny future ahead for the Howling Bells indeed, and they plan to make the journey as exciting and unpredictable as possible.

[olssen]

not sure if this has been mentioned in other threads, but my 'cities' 7" arrived yesterday, and the b-side is 'hearts & armour', not 'dublin' like we thought it was to be. does the track 'dublin' actually exist or was it just a mistake?

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It's Track of the Week in The Sun:

www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/sftw/article2255314.ece