Forget Yourself proves the impossible; that a band can exist for 23 years, consistently producing credible sounds without disappearing up their own backsides or tarnishing their name with transient musical whims. This album represents the veteran troupe as a unanimous agreement on ideology; the same idea we loved in 1980. Forget Yourself blends a magnetic brand of pop, crushes it with raw distortion and adds a psychedelic garnish to arrive at the definitive trademark sound that has attracted a truly global following for this seminal act. Recorded at Spacejunk and produced by Tim Powles, the whole LP is beautifully tarnished by a raw edge that contradicts the sweet harmonies and melodies. It adds credence to the notion that The Church's career is working in reverse, powered by a DIY philosophy that protects the group from outside influence and purifies the sound. But the true appeal is always in the combination of 4 fine songwriters blending their best ideas to arrive at a supreme compositional quality. Sealine's opening wall of distortion is the most epic sound I've heard this year. It literally left me dazed and prepared me for the 14 prime tunes on Forget Yourself. After the first single, Song In Space, I discovered my new favourite song, The Theatre And Its Double, which breaks down to hushed vocals and lightning finger-picking to achieve the level of quality I call 'goose bump material'. Lay Low finds The Church rolling like a well-oiled machine with Powles driving the chorus and adding some lush offbeat snare-work to the quiet moments. It's the carefully planned dynamics and variety of textures that makes this LP one of the best albums for 2003 and there's no doubt the obsessive fans will be sated, at least for the moment. Forget Yourself, rather than exhibiting the craft of an act in its twilight years, suggests that The Church have much more to offer: much, much more.

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Tracklisting
1 Sealine
2 Song In Space
3 The Theatre And It's Double
4 Telepath
5 See Your Lights
6 lay Low
7 Maya
8 Appalatia
9 June
10 Don't You Fall
11 I Kept Everything
12 Nothing Seeker
13 Reversal
14 Summer

Full listing of THE CHURCH releases