Album Review

I Like Trains – We Go Hunting

• 18th Apr 2008

Relating to Samuel Parris and the Salem Witch Trials which were initiated after witchcraft allegations were made against, amongst others, his eldest daughter Betty, ‘We Go Hunting’ by I Like Trains (ILT) is nothing short of haunting. Exquisitely combianing the sounds of Joy Division and Divine Comedy, ILT engage the listener’s ear, slowly and subtly knotting their stomachs as they go on their eerie trademark way.

You can see the video by clicking this [link]

The finely balanced mix of apprehensive, drawn out vocals and the urgency driven music which gloriously encompasses the message is sadly all too short lived, being as sublime as it is. Thankfully we’re immediately and somewhat literally treated to ‘More Weight’, the accentuating, previously unreleased flipside concerning crushing death sentence served upon a suspected wizard of histories same tragic episode.

All very well indeed you might comment, perhaps pondering upon the suitability of such subject matter. But ILT don’t do Saturday night disco music, they do what’s been referred to by the Times (those musical masterminds) as library music. But for me personally, it’s their vibe more than their vocabulary that stirs the most emotion or perhaps more specifically, empathetic turmoil.

Back in Sep’07 I let my first, mainly undeveloped opinion of ILT be known, when I reviewed their ‘Deception’ single. Although my words were somewhat rash, I still stand beside them and offer them here again [link] as they’re as relevant now as they were then.

Around their May Day homecoming gig in Leeds, they’re playing their hearts out all over the place. For full details on the band and their schedule, please click this [link]