Toothless - The Pace Of The Passing

Rating:

A shimmering gateway into 2017.

'Album' of 'the Week'

People never seem to expect much of the bass player - which is near-on criminal, especially if they can unravel something quite as bountiful and encapsulating as 'The Pace Of The Passing'. While Ed Nash's job in Bombay Bicycle Club may resonate and ring through, his debut solo album is a breathtaking journey into a blossoming paradise that only Toothless could create.

Right at its foundations is an unmistakable knack for taking pop hooks and broadening their horizons. There’s room to breathe and take it all in at every turn. Be it ‘The Midas Touch’, with its delicate crescendo that slowly builds into an all-powering blanket of warmth, or the plucky pulls of ‘Charon’ - the world that Toothless builds throughout the record is one that gently brings us closer, to the point where anything outside of it seems obsolete and harsh. ‘Sisyphus’ is the sort of pulsating indie-folk breeze that’ll enrapture an audience of thousands, while closer ‘Terra’ dreams its way into a soothing pillow-like embrace - holding tight on first listen and immediately locking straight into the very fragilities of life we all need help with.

Even in its clear collaborative moments (see the swoon-worthy ‘The Sirens’ with The Staves or the hypnotic gleam of Marika Hackman in ‘Palm’s Backside’) 'The Pace Of Passing' keeps its clear identity at the forefront. This is a record that dreams of escape and lays out a path for doing so.

Never resting on its laurels or taking the easy road, 'The Pace Of The Passing' is a perfect way to summarise what Toothless represents. Free, engrossing and much more than the CV of one man - it’s a shimmering gateway into 2017, and an incredible flag in the ground for everything Toothless represents.Jamie Muir