I Like Trains – He Who Saw The Deep

The UK’s I Like Trains follow a regional tradition made up of ominous, deep voiced men who take the lead from dark rockers like Depeche Mode.  Styled with the similar conversational style of Robyn Hitchcock and Robin Grey, I Like Trains chugs along like a locomotive through a hazy, foggy mist – each word on their latest full length, He Who Saw The Deep, as confident and direct as the tracks directing the ride.

In one word, the disc feels atmospheric.  Lead vocalist David Martin shifts between deep baritone and menacing whispers, directing the tone as a conductor does his engine (enough train metaphors yet?).  Instrumentally echoic, guitars flutter surprisingly high, the lingering, reverberating acoustics effectively accenting Martin’s voice – Minus The Bear meets Cold Play meets White Lies serving as an effective triad for comparison.  For example, “When We Were Kings” opens with a dream-like hint of nostalgia, introducing the album’s sleepy character.  The title track twinkles incandescently like a stagnant reflection rippling from cascading raindrops – or put less pretentiously, the composure is delicate.

Furthermore, the best moments command a haunting quality sure to send goosebumps down your back.  Nothing is scary per-se – unsettling might be a more appropriate descriptor – but the calm remorse inherent in passages like “we’ve made our beds, and now we lay… if only we could stem the tide,” followed by passages like “as Europe sinks into the sea… maybe if we all pray hard enough and keep our noses clean, maybe we’ll be saved” produce daunting, gloomy imagery of inescapable tragedy (“Progress Is A Snake”).  “The Feet Of Clay” follows suit with much the same – drumming to swirling images of marching shadows.

There’s a fine line between “night time” music (as coined recently by Gaslight Anthem vocalist Brian Fallon) and “sleepy” music (uneventful sounds that put you to sleep).  While I Like Trains certainly won’t put you to sleep, a few songs fall under the “filler” category (songs on the back half, like “Sirens” and “Broken Bones”), dragging the disc out longer than necessary.  Even so, the formula works, exciting the mind rather than signaling a snooze.