No Man’s Land Album Review

When I received this record I had no idea what to expect. The press information describes the sound as a cathartic experience founded on cinematic arrangements wrapped around the lead singer, Sarah Macombee’s, exquisite voice, so it all sounded fairly self indulgent. Was this to be the case?

The record itself was written predominantly by Macombee and features a plethora of talented musicians. The record took 6 years to create and has been well produced on all fronts. The album art and presentation is tasteful and gives a small insight into the mind of Macombee. 

To cut to the chase, when I played the opening track The Absolute Truth I was gobsmacked. I was blown away with its intricacies and extremely well placed arrangement. The structure was interesting and varied. The track instantly reminded me of a David Lynch film and would be well suited to act as a theme song to any HBO TV show. This track had sparked my attention and I was all ears. 

However, from this point the record changed pace dramatically for good or ill, and become an entirely different beast. The album transgressed from this point, becoming far more singer songwriter orientated. The tracks from this point had a slight trip hop feel, but less Bristol and more musical stage show. They consistently featured the ever present vocal and piano toilings of Macombee whilst smatters of additional production filled the sound stage. 

The record really didn’t diverse from this point and the dynamical variance almost sifted into one long indulgent anguished ballad of sorts. I am not saying this is bad but it really didn’t do a lot for me, but in Sarah’s defence these stylings are not really my cuppah.

I would suggest that if you like highly emotive, matured female singer song writers then you will find yourself at home with Macombee and Co. No Man’s Land is a well produced and thoughtful record and the opening track was in a class of its own. However, the record simply dragged and didn’t really go anywhere of interest past the initial track for me.