Archive – Take My Head

Back in the '90s, my local indie stocked a brilliant range of obscure singles that never charted, at 99p each. The cover of Archive's 1996 release 'Londinium' caught my eye (I was obsessed with FSOL's Dead Cities at the time, and it had a similar vibe). I loved the song, but never came across anything else of Archive's until stumbling across Take My Head a couple of years later in the albums section. It was an immediate purchase. What a surprise I got...

With vocalists Roya Arab and Rosko John out of the picture, Archive core members Darius Keeler and Danny Griffiths reconvened with Matheu Martin and vocalist Suzanne Wooder to create a collection of gorgeous, sweeping trip-hop-tinged pop songs. At ten songs running to 42 minutes, Take My Head is very much the pop album: dramatically shorter than the band's other records, and front-loaded with singles.

'You Make Me Feel' opens the album on a dramatic note - guitars pushed into the red and drums pounding - before giving way to harpsichord and gentle vocal harmonies. It's an odd, confrontational song, but strangely accessible at the same time. It's followed by 'The Way You Love Me', a beautiful, energetic ballad, with live strings and a haunting repeated bell tone. The characteristic lead synth so recognisable from Archive's debut finds its way into the mix, reminding us that, underneath, this is still the same band.

The rest of the album skates between these two approaches. The first half is definitely the poppiest, with even hints of pop-country popping their head up on songs like 'Brother' and 'Woman' (the latter, I'm sure, being many listeners' least favourite on the album). Later on we get three tracks that bring back the experimental side of the band: 'Cloud in the Sky' is a string-drenched trip-hop piece that should have been a hit; the title track, with its hypnotic looped vocals lurching head-first into a wall of organ and breakbeats, is one of the strangest pieces in the band's expansive catalogue; 'Love in Summer' is an instrumental that verges on post rock.

Take My Head is an odd album, even for a band who are known for taking unpredictable left-turns. Fans of the group's expansive, electronic rock and trip-hop may be put off by some of the more commercial tracks on the album; similarly, those who find refuge in the record's sincere ballads may find the later tracks that bit too odd. But those able to enjoy both sides will be able to appreciate this album for what it is: in the band's own words, "a collection of symphonic torch songs for the new millennium". At heart, Take My Head is a beautiful record, and one that's been on heavy rotation since that first chance purchase 16-odd years ago.

My CD has the "Enhanced CD" sticker on the front but for some reason the CD itself is labelled ISOM 26 not ISOM 10 - Noew added as separate release 28-11-13