REVIEW: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – ‘Chasing Yesterday’

chasing yesterday album review

We all know Noel Gallagher’s past, so without delving into the history of Oasis too much, he was trapped.

As chief songwriter, I get the feeling a band as tumultuous as Oasis kept Noel from soaring. He got his way with some beautiful B-Sides and lead vocals on some songs, but when you have cemented yourself as a product, there isn’t much room to change, especially with Liam on the throne.

So flashback to four years ago, and we see Liam in magazines again with his new effort, Beady Eye. Say what you will about Beady Eye, I enjoyed them, however it was Liam’s inability to change that lead to the (IMHO) untimely departure of Beady Eye. He churned out stock rock’n’roll riffs that did work, but I think he was resting on the laurels of his previous band. Infant, Beady Eye was his previous band, quite literally.

Then, out of the silence and shadows, Noel Gallagher held an amusing press conference, and the world knew that a new Noel was coming our way. Enter Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

NGHFB is a sombre, soft, dreamy album that showed amazing progression and a gentler side to ‘our kid.’ Not as upbeat and as heavy as Beady Eye, but it signified a period of change. It wasn’t just the singer/songwriter Noel with just him and an acoustic. This was freedom.

If debut High Flying Bird’s was him finding his feet, Chasing Yesterday is Noel running.

You can hear a plethora of direct influences and homages in Chasing Yesterday. Album opener Riverman starts with what fans and guitarists will know as the ‘Oasis Chord.’ That cheeky older Gallagher brother is teasing us all, as that is the only time he flirts with his past band. From that ominous chord onwards we get hurled into a dense, multi-layered musical atmosphere that I’m still finding it hard to come down from.

It plays out like the perfect chill out playlist. It has brilliant flow and is melodically pleasing, with beautifully placed dynamics. Every single bit of this album sits perfectly with nothing where it shouldn’t be. Chiming guitars come in at the right places, never outstaying their welcome and giving room for other instruments breathe, making up a rich tapestry and just the right amount of experimentation.

Add in some Air, Queens Of The Stone Age, Rolling Stones and T-Rex, and we have a recipe for a perfect summer soundtrack.

Lead single The Heat of the Moment is incredibly danceable and hits you hard after the floaty dreamlike Riverman. The catchy ’Na Na Na’ hook will have it stuck in your head for days.

Heavily inspired by The Eagles, The Girl with the X-Ray Eyes is a throwback to huge 70’s riffs with acoustic subtlety that ends far too soon, leaving you wanting more.

Uptempo tracks Lock All The Doors and the almost pop-punkesque The Mexican are roaring and delicious, giving this idea of a change in musical direction. More cowbell, anyone?

The perfectly placed The Right Stuff is a phenomenal display of psychedelic delights, which sounds like a hi-fi (or in this case a High-Fly) take on Washed Out. At first listen, I thought Noel was going to give us an instrumental and rob us of his vocal talents, but it was near perfect.

Album closer Ballard of Mighty I, featuring the finger work of fellow Mancunian Johnny Marr, brings Chasing Yesterday to an upbeat end, not drifting into the realms of 11-minute anthems as so many bands do. It is a sensible and fitting end to NG’s magnum opus.

Lyrically, we are greeted with Noel’s metaphors and wandering mind, making a further departure from his voice-of-a-generation Oasis days and establishing him as a raconteur. Basically, this is a collection of love songs, I mean what great album isn’t? Noel doesn’t have to say anything anymore, there is nothing to prove. He is just doing the thing he loves.

He has an incredible ability to still make infectious, catchy pop songs and package it in the Gallagher way. It is maturity and growth from what he sat out to do on his eponymous debut, daring to go down different musical avenues without becoming (more) arrogant or avant-garde. Saxophones are dangerous territory unless you are Pink Floyd or making Deep House tracks on Ableton, but Noel pulls it off tastefully.

There are just wondrous and delightful moments splashed all over Chasing Yesterday which further solidifies Noel’s musical abilities and songwriting skills.

Nothing is taken for granted on Chasing Yesterday. It is the classic all killer, no filler. Keeping on trend with his studio count ins and ad libs, this feels tangible. Chasing Yesterday is highly accessible and unpretentious. It never claims to be something it’s not and at just over 43 minutes; it is almost an evanescence. It will leave you wanting more.

I’m still hoping one day that the Noel Gallagher and Androgynous Amorphous collaboration will be released, but if he keeps putting out work such as this, I can wait.

One final note. I usually do an album of the year poll, with such instant classics like Lana Del Rey’s Ultravoilence and, yes, Beady Eye’s BE winning the last two years. Two months into 2015 and I already have a solid contender for the top spot.

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