The Night Before

_The Night Before_ is actually the first of the two mini-albums released by Manchester band James in 2010, followed shortly after, inevitably enough, by _The Morning After_. Despite the knowing humour here, and their position as the band behind party favourite ‘Sit Down’, James have always been a much more complicated proposition than their popular image would suggest. Their music has ranged from the amusing see ode to noisy sex ‘Laid’: to melancholic deep cuts like, ‘Lost a Friend’. James have always had a sensitivity and intelligence that deserves a deeper appreciation than just a familiarity with their Greatest Hits, and _The Night Before_ is a case in point.

As the title suggests, this is music that echoes the agony and the ecstasy of a one-night stand, making it seem the quintessential life-affirming experience. Opener ‘It’s Hot’ calls the beginnings of a one-night stand, ‘a leap of faith’, thoroughly irresistible with such a soundtrack as laid down on _The Night Before_. The music is moody and majestic, with some of the understated sensuality of The XX and the atmospherics of Arcade Fire and Interpol. However, as the band’s better known hits might suggest, the songs are as insistent and memorable as they are sensitive and understated.

Lyrically, on _The Night Before_ James are on delightfully eccentric form. Only ‘Shine’ gets close to a linear one night stand narrative. It is the atmosphere that resonates here, and it is one fostered by the music rather than the theme. Highpoints are ‘Ten Below’ with its soon-to-be-a-live-favourite chorus and the eerie beauty of closer Hero and its haunting refrain of ‘You’ve got to love your brother like you don’t love yourself’. Unlike ‘Sit Down’, this is not the music to play at a wedding reception, but it could well be the soundtrack to the tentative opening of a new relationship.

Some may question the release of two mini-albums when they could easily have been released together as a more traditional album, but the quality of the music is indisputable. Long-term fans will be well rewarded for searching out this real gem of an album and, as comparisons with Arcade Fire and Interpol show, there is also plenty here to win over new fans.
Fingers crossed that it isn’t too long before James grace us with a new full-length effort, but for a short album there is more than enough here to appease us in the interim. Proof indeed that the best things do come in small packages.