W.H. Lung - Every Inch of Earth Pulsates Review
W. H. Lung successfully capture the essence of their live shows on record.
Though W.H. Lung started as a studio project, their career so far indicates that they took note when James Murphy deadpanned that LCD Soundsystem’s live shows are really just the best possible cover versions of LCD Soundsystem songs. The Manchester band’s first albums blend of dance, trance and krautrock was crafted with studio toys and recreated into sweaty, energetic live shows on which their reputation has been built.
In acknowledgement of their strongest suit, for Every Inch of Earth Pulsates W.H. Lung crossed the pennines to work with Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys / The Fall) with the ambition of capturing the energy of their live shows on record. The shift has seen some of the groove of Incidental Music and Vanities dialed down and replaced with layers of guitars and big choruses delivered with the majesty of fellow Manchester band, Doves.
And it is other bands rather than the dance scenes of Manchester that W.H. Lung take most influence from on Every Inch of Earth Pulsates. The baggy, looping bass and drawn out, hazy vocals of “Lilac Sky” imagine The Horrors somewhere between Skying and Luminous before it gives way to a kind of heavy footed DIIV, whose luscious shoegaze is speckled throughout this album. “Bliss Bliss” also contains the swirling, climbing arpeggios that pull you toward a nostalgic chorus that points towards the theme of change on the record.
The old and new of W.H. Lung comes together most obviously on ‘Bloom and Fade’ where heavy synths and motorik drumming combine with sunkissed guitars as singer Joe Evans charts the personal change that happened alongside the band’s musical progression. In the last third of single “How to Walk”, stabs of guitar take over from carefree “woohoo’s” as Evans sounds like he’s stumbling over himself, his band just about holding him up until soaring synths stabilizes the song and show James Murphy that some bands don’t need to swap their synths for guitars - W.H. Lung find space for both in a thrilling reworking of their sound.