film review: the forgiveness of blood

From Colombian drug-mules in debut Maria Full of Grace to Balkan blood feuds in The Forgiveness of Blood, American director Joshua Marston again uses an outsider eye to mine drama from unfamiliar circumstances. Set in northern Albania, early scenes show rival families contesting land boundaries and bickering in bars, but when their deep-rooted dispute spills over into murder, the relatives of the man responsible are forced into hiding lest the male members be targeted in retaliatory violence.

Largely told from the perspective of two teens caught in the crossfire, Forgiveness… is an intelligent, emotionally-nuanced work. While the diktats of the Kanun (traditional Albanian laws predicated on honour and kinship) are integral to the plot and only gradually explained, Marston and Andamion Murataj’s script is always comprehensible, with emphasis placed on universal feelings of adolescent frustration rather than judicial minutiae. As the siblings weather a conflict that predates them by generations, their claustrophobic limbo builds into a satisfyingly open ending.

Out 10th August

get yer diary out and stick us in

dirty dozen: school of seven bells

Veering from constructive criticism to outright disgust, Alejandra Deheza and Benjamin Curtis of School of Seven Bells have a good cop/bad cop gander at August's sixties-indebted promo pile. 



Noisettes – That Girl (Mono-ra-rama, 13 Aug)
Benjamin: This is one of those songs that’s really hard to critique – if you like sixties music you’ll like this, and if you don’t, you won’t. I don’t think it’s necessarily creative; it’s more like wallpaper, or putting up a picture of Diana Ross in your bedroom. It just seems like decoration.
Alejandra: But then I think that’s probably what they were going for – if you wanted to create a new sound, then you would.
B: This is why it’s so hard to be a music critic, I mean, what are we critiquing on – whether they did a good job or not, or whether or not it’s worth a shit? In the job of recreating – 10 out of 10. But otherwise, 6.





General Fiasco – Bad Habits (Dirty Hit, 6 Aug)
[An initial look of bemusement gives way to laughter. Alejandra looks a little lost for words]
B: People still make music like this? I really, really hope that in 50 years there isn’t a fucking band recreating this.
A: I… er… this is really not my thing. But I can understand why people might like it – it’s got melody, and the dude has a lot of emotion.
B: This kind of music should feel like it’s going to fall apart, whereas this sounds very comfortable… 4.



The Cult – The Wolf (Cooking Vinyl, 6 Aug)
B: Oh shit, I’m so excited to hear this!
[The track starts and their grins get wider]
A: Well, it’s doing what they do best…
[Suddenly, the smiles disappear]
A: Wow, this took a turn.
B: Yeah, that went very wrong at about 45 seconds… very, very wrong. I give the first 45 seconds 9 out of 10, but the rest is disqualified. I like that they’re bringing the cowbell back though, there’s some extra credit for that.



Garbage – Big Bright World (STUNVOLUME, 6 Aug)
B: Not that they were ever particularly intellectual, but I feel like this song is extra lobotomised. I’m not saying they were ever like Yes or something, but Jesus… What I don’t like about it comes from the extreme respect I have for them. Does that cushion it at all?
The Skinny: Depends on the score you give…
A: Oh brother… ouch. It’s hard because I really like her. 5?
B: I’ll say 6, just because it’s Shirley Manson and she’s cool.



Toddla T & Shola Ama – Alive (Ninja Tune, 13 Aug)
A: I love her vocals.
B: I’ve already forgotten what the chorus goes like though – that’s not a good sign for a pop song. Great singer though, Toddla.
The Skinny: Shola’s the singer…
B: Shit, Shola, Shola… So who’s Toddla? [laughing] What the fuck kind of name is Toddla?! Who would call themselves that?
A: I’d give this 4.
B: That’s generous, but Shola seems cool. She’s singing her ass off…



The Heavy – What Makes A Good Man? (Ninja Tune, 13 Aug)
B: Is this sixties soul thing big right now or something?
The Skinny: This is soundtracking a Miller ad campaign in the States, apparently...
B: Oh, this song is made for a beer commercial. It’s junk food.
A: It seems like they know they’re making junk food too, you know? It’s very marketable.
B: I give them props for that, because that’s smart – they’re going to make a lot of money if they’re halfway intelligent, but… er… the other 98% of me just thinks this is fucking vile [laughs]. Sorry. 10 out of 10 for marketability. The rest is disqualified for being completely horrible.



Tamara Schlesinger – Again (Tantrum Records, 6 Aug)
B: There’s that sixties sound again – what’s going on around here?
A: This is good – the fact that she can keep a song this interesting with just what she’s using is pretty awesome. I’d be really curious to pick her brain – I think it would be fun in there.
B: It needed a bridge, though.
A: I didn’t feel it was lacking anything, I think it was really good.
B: But that’s the single – if you put out a single, I think you’ve got to respect the form…
A: I don’t agree, this is good the way it is – 8.
B: Yeah, I’d have probably fucked her song up. Don’t listen to me, Tamara, you’re good.



FaltyDL – Hardcourage (Ninjatune, 20 Aug)
A: This bassline reminds me a lot of, like, 96-ish jungle, but it kinda just makes me want to listen to that instead. [Benjamin skips the track forward a minute]. Oh, this is throwing out all the tricks.
B: Yeah, but for a dance single it’s understated in a way that’s kind of unfortunate.
A: I wouldn’t really hear that in a club – it sounds like something you'd hear at a restaurant or hotel.
B: Yeah it’s kind of a hotel lobby jam. I’m sure FaltyDL is a great fellow, but I’m hoping Hardcourage is not his best – 5.



Caned and Able – I’ve Got You Now (PSB Music, 27 Aug)
B: Oh man, have you seen what they’re called? I’m so mad at that name. [Alejandra reads and visibly cringes]
B [in response to the chorus]: He does not have me yet…
Skinny: Well he’s running out of time…
B: Oh shit, this song’s almost over! You gotta be fu… See, what colours my judgement is, you’re not just playing us some random song: this is the fucking single, this is their best song right now. So you can’t just think, 'oh well, maybe I’ll like another' – this should be the best one. Then again, that’s not really fair 'cause most of my favourite songs weren’t singles, so maybe… I just think they should have worked a bit harder on that.
A: Yeah, it was premature to end it there. I’d give it an ‘incomplete’.



Eugene McGuinness – Harlequinade (Domino, 6 Aug)
A: This is very mild.
B: Medium spicy at most. It sounds like Robert Palmer.
A: I don’t want to give this a low score, because there’s a lot of work and some good ideas in there.
B: But it’s hard to give anyone a good score when you can hear Portishead playing on the PA next door… If Portishead is a 10, what’s this?
A: Oh man… No, that’s too hard! That’s not fair to anybody! Ok, 5. I was going to go higher, but you put Portishead in the mix.
B: He’s just a victim of circumstance…



Mina Tindle – Bells (Believe, 20 Aug)
A: She has a really soulful voice, you can tell that she’s feeling it.
B: It’s a bit too cute though.
A: I don’t know, there’s something in her voice that’s really sad. She sounds like she sings with her whole body. Can we rate her, rather than the song?
B: Yeah, we give Mina a 9, and if you were gauging cuteness, it’s extremely cute.
A: On the cute scale, definitely 10, but for the song, 5, because a good idea is worth a lot, and that was a good idea.



Single of the Month: Lower Dens – Candy (Ribbon, 13 Aug)
A: I like her voice a lot – it’s a like an exact mix of Siouxie and T-Rex.
B: Man, that guitar player is getting himself some…
A: It’s really moody – it sort of reminds me of that opening scene in Mulholland Drive, where all you see is the pavement, and it’s really dark and the car’s driving along... This is spooky.
B: Yeah, it has a really good vibe. A solid 8.

[From August's Skinny]

reviews: paul vickers & friends, six organs of admittance, eugene mcguinness

 

Paul Vickers and Friends - Nest of Knickers (***)

Like the shows at which it will be sold, Paul Vickers’ latest album offers a lot of variety. Previously-unreleased Dawn of the Replicants tracks sit alongside newly-written spoken word pieces and experimental musical slithers (‘songs’ seems an overly formal description for some of these oddities), making Nest of Knickers boldly incohesive but fun to dip in and out of.

The storytelling passages are particularly captivating; full of grotesquery and invention, they rub awkwardly against accessible songwriting like Yabba Yabba (a Replicants cut that’s probably the most conventional thing here). Indeed, awkwardness seems integral to Vickers’ mischievous comedic project, and though there’s an unshakeable sense that an in-character monologue’s natural home remains the stage – where the eccentricities have room to puff out their lungs – the results are always intriguing. Vickers will host accompanying 'wonky cabaret' Twonkey’s Kingdom throughout this year’s Alternative Fringe: on the strength of this exemplar, we’d recommend a swatch.

Out Now

                                                     

Six Organs of Admittance - Ascent (***)

Adopting the maxim ‘if you’ve got it, flaunt it,’ Six Organs of Admittance’s Ben Chasny opens his latest album with a big, bold guitar solo – a whole five and a half minutes of virtuoso fret fiddling, all told. Track two mixes things up, kind of: it’s still a five-minute guitar solo, but with a couple of extra minutes of moody psych preceding it.

For those who prefer such noodling as a means to an end (rather than the main attraction), both workouts are liable to outstay their welcome, but Chasny knows better than to let tedium take root, with Solar Ascent focusing his skills on a dirge-like slice of melancholia, and the acoustic melodies of Your Ghost delivering another well-timed pace-change. While Ascent is arguably less distinctive than recent discography highlights like the droning Luminous Night, its full-on rock elements serve to further subvert SOA’s alt-folk origins, to striking effect.

Out 20th August

 

Eugene McGuinness - The Invitation to the  Voyage (**)

From quirky, well-regarded debut to playing guitar in musical shrug Miles Kane’s backing band in just four short years: Eugene McGuinness hasn’t exactly been firing on all cylinders lately. But now he’s back, with slick quiff and slicker production, re-cast in a plastic soul mould and vying for a piece of the 80s-pop revival action. “I’m going for the jugular,” he explains on opener Harlequinade, and his methodology is not to be trifled with: stuffed with synths and trumpets and gloss, it’s a bold and brash vanguard for an album with definite promise.

But elsewhere it’s lazy: Japanese Cars is purposeless pastiche; Shotgun samples Peter Gunn to irritating effect; while the lyrics of Sugarplum are liable to set eyes-a-rolling, particularly when followed by the comparatively imaginative imagery of lead single Lion. Bright points like that make it difficult to write Invitation to the Voyage off completely, but celebrating it proves more difficult still.
  
Out 6th August

reviews: why?, the crooked fiddle band, urusen

 

Why? - Sod in the Seed EP (****)

While still keen on Eskimo Snow’s more sedate direction, it’s a thrill to hear Why?’s Yoni Wolf in full flow for Sod in the Seed’s title track. Their first new material in almost three years, it’s a vibrant showcase for his sharp wordplay, so verbosely enmeshed that it’s impossible to quote from without spoiling the effect.

Musically, the trio continue to eschew conventions, pioneering some peculiar but rewarding genre syntheses across the EP’s tight duration: For Someone is a woozy blend of xylophone, recorder and bongos; Probable Cause a minute of calypso presets; Shag Carpet a sort of liturgical hip-hop, and so on. A superb return that’s both familiar and exotic, the only real complaint is that a full album remains months away.

Out 13th August

 

The Crooked Fiddle Band - Overgrown Tales (****)

With titles inspired by sixteenth century serial killers, Coppélia and Tolkien, The Crooked Fiddle Band stay true to their third album’s title, tapping into a rich storytelling seam despite the largely instrumental nature of their music. Recorded last year with Steve Albini, Overgrown Tales sounds global and timeless, its roll call of instruments (including tapan, bouzouki and nyckelharpa) indicating the scope of their influences.

Albini’s characteristically hands-off anti-production initially seems an ill-fit for such nuanced music, but as exhaustingly-paced tracks like All These Pitchforks Make Me Nervous tumble from the speakers, the match makes sense: to apply a greater degree of studio sheen would muffle one of their most pronounced qualities, namely their frenetic dynamism. This is comfortably the Sydney quartet’s most ambitious release to date, with the relentless fiddle riffs of The Mountain Hag’s Advice sitting closer to heavy metal than folk, and What the Thunder Said delivering an appropriately epic finale.

Out 6th August

 

Urusen - This is Where We Meet (***)

Urusen have been gigging and recording for almost a decade now, never quite catching a wave of support big enough to bring them widespread recognition, but cultivating a reputation for likeable, robust folk-pop fayre regardless. Consistency isn’t a particularly sexy quality in bands, but the slow-road taken to …Where We Meet has its benefits, imbuing their songwriting with an appealing integrity.

There’s a refreshing lack of pretence to tracks like upbeat lead single In Search of the Delta, or the gently lilting Fifty & 9, which together represent the twin poles of Urusen’s sound – not particularly diverse, but nicely complimentary. Peter Bleatty’s lyrics are another tick in the right column, his storytelling offering just the right amount of mystery. But the same qualities that make their music easy to appreciate also ultimately hinders their route to something greater – settling on pleasant, and so falling shy of a record with a more lasting impact.

Out 13th August 

 

reviews: james yorkston, tamara schlesinger, huw m

 

James Yorkston - I Was a Cat From a Book (*****)

Even if you didn’t know its background, I Was a Cat… is an emotionally powerful listen. With context, it near overwhelms: in 2010, James Yorkston’s daughter fell seriously ill, sidelining his musical commitments while he focussed all energies on her recovery. Folk is one of those genres where autobiography is presumed to inform a songwriter’s music in an especially direct manner, and certainly it’s impossible to hear the urgent I Can Take All This or the solemnly candid The Fire & The Flames ('all that I want is for you to be well my love') without the connection producing goose-bumps. But dwelling only on personal circumstances results in an unnecessarily reductive assessment of this remarkable album – Yorkston’s best yet, we’d venture. Further highpoints include Just as Scared’s stunning duet with Jill O’Sullivan, and the agitated, breathless Border Song, which underscore the record’s incisive beauty and fiery passion respectively.  

Out 13th August

                                                    

Tamara Schlesinger - The Procession (***)

 

In 6 Day Riot, Tamara Schlesinger’s compositions come wrapped in tiers of warm instrumentation, generating a welcoming, communal atmosphere. Solo debut The Procession is a comparatively stark and intimate offering, her music stripped back to its bones. Her voice is always at the fore, often providing both lead melody and a looped, layered a capella bedrock – an increasingly familiar dynamic, but one with mileage yet.

Initially, the stylistic shift produces a curiously aloof tone, but that’s not to paint it as dour: repeat listens bring its carefree undertow into focus, with the appeal of gibbering opener Yai Yai, and the delicate, dancing So Long particularly pronounced. There’s a hint of a tantalising middle ground waiting to be seized – a balance between her erstwhile full-band aesthetic and this crystalline left turn – but any urge to reconcile them at this juncture is neutralised by the album’s consistency and clarity of vision.

Out 6th August

 

Huw M - Gathering Dusk (***)

On debut Os Mewn Swn, Huw M sung entirely in Welsh, letting the music do the talking for those of us not fluent in the language (we can assume the majority of those reading aren’t). It might have been nice to maintain this approach on bilingual follow-up Gathering Dusk: as before, when he phlegmatically coos in Cymraeg, all melts together into gooey, sunny loveliness; when he switches to English, asinine couplets occassionally stick in the throat (Hide Behind You, hang thy head).

Elsewhere, folk-pop melodies skirt dangerously close to Mraz-ish empty whimsy, but successfully retain their compsure: Chwyldro Tawel, Ystafellowedd Gwag and For While I Wait For You To Sleep warrant particular praise, the former evocatively melancholic, the second proffering fluttering, gossamer guitar work, and the closing lullaby boosted by Bethan Reynolds’ gentle harmonies. A step sideways rather than forward perhaps, but a nicely judged one.

Out today 

july bottle rocket playlist

uh huh

1. warpaint - ashes to ashes
2. cults - walk at night
3. allo darlin - capricornia
4. the magnetic fields - your girlfriend's face
5. tune-yards - my country
6. lcd soundsystem - all i want
7. animal collective - honeycomb
8. rusted root - send me on my way
9. grimes - oblivion
10. blood diamonds feat. grimes - phone sex
11. the cure - just like heaven
12. the teardrop explodes - reward
13. devo - out of sync
14. jenny and johnny - scissor runner
15. patti smith - til victory
16. talking heads - psycho killer
17. manhattan love suicides - clusterfuck
18. the raveonettes - that great love sound
19. martha reeves - nowhere to run
20. rachel sweet - baby
21. the go-gos - we got the beat
22. the damned - new rose
23. television - see no evil
24. suede - metal mickey
25. silkworm - treat the new guy right
26. spencer davis group - keep on running
27. prince - i would die 4 u
28. twin shadow - five seconds
29. superchunk - cruel summer
30. sleigh bells - comeback kid
31. the small faces - all or nothing
32. hefner - hymn for the cigarettes
33. guns n roses - welcome to the jungle
34. run dmc - it's tricky
35. danananaykroyd - muscle memory
36. girls aloud - biology
37. belle and sebastian - me and the major
38. lloyd cole - rattlesnakes
39. super furry animals - herman loves pauline
40. fugazi - waiting room
41. blondie - heart of glass
42. eileen - ces bottes sont faites pour marcher
43. the b-52s - 52 girls
44. weezer - buddy holly
45. st etienne - he's on the phone
46. bis - eurodisco
47. pixies - i've been tired
48. le tigre - deceptecon
49. david bowie - queen bitch
50. t-rex - get it on
51. wizzard - see my baby jive
52. fleetwood mac - go your own way
53. new order - true faith
54. the smiths - girlfriend in a coma
55. the clash - english civil war
56. jesus and mary chain - happy when it rains
57. the osmonds - crazy horses
58. iggy and the stooges - gimme danger
59. pavement - summer babe
60. abba - sos

reviews: the big eyes family players, the lost brothers, the cathode ray

 

The Big Eyes Family Players & Friends - Folk Songs II (****)

After 2009’s Folk Songs collaboration, James Yorkston lets the Big Eyes Family Players take charge of the sequel, appearing on just a couple of tracks this time around. But canny to the wisdom of ‘many hands make light work’, James Green and company have introduced a variety of Friends to the fold as replacements, and consequently, there’s an increased diversity.

Each contributor brings a slightly different quality to the table and the Players respond accordingly: particularly effective are Heather Ditch’s soulful rendition of The Clyde Water, underpinned by acoustic arpeggios and a subtle synth buzz, and the Alasdair Roberts-sung Maureen from Gippursland, which hews closer to folk convention in vocal delivery, if not necessarily instrumentation (an ebbing, rippling array of organs, strings, cymbals and more). On Folk Songs II, The Big Eyes Family Players respect tradition without being enslaved by it, making a third entry highly desirable.

Out 6th August

 

 The Lost Brothers - So Long, John Fante (***)

With their debut released way back in 2008, it seemed The Lost Brothers might have taken their moniker literally and gone AWOL. But they’ve been busy: So Long John Fante was recorded two years ago in Sheffield (with studio musicians and producer Colin Elliot borrowed from fellow romantic troubadour Richard Hawley), while its successor has since been committed to tape in Nashville, slated for release on Brendan Benson’s Readymade label later this year.

Marrying mellifluous harmonising to conventional (but not staid) song-writing, the Brothers (Oisín Leech and Mark McCausland; not brothers) channel Fleet Foxes on a Bacharach tip. Lyrically love-locked, they’re not immune to generic imagery, but the duo's narrative skills are otherwise well-evinced; unfussy arrangements, meanwhile, make Simon & Garfunkel a definite touchstone. Other influences include slow-dance doo-wop (Only by the Light of the Moon) and alt-country (Bells They Won’t Ring), all adding up to an understatedly appealing listen.

Out Now

 

The Cathode Ray - The Cathode Ray (***)

While the particles in a cathode ray travel at lightning speed, Edinburgh’s The Cathode Ray are somewhat slower paced. A single in 2006, a second in 2009, and now finally an album three years later again – but as the animated opening track handily reminds those tut-tutting and tapping their wrists, Patience is a Virtue.
 
Part of the leisurely arrival is no doubt a consequence of founder member Paul Haig (formerly of Josef K) leaving to focus on solo material, his exit amicable but presumably impactful. His fingerprints remain, credited as co-author on eight of the eleven tracks, including album highlights like Monkees-pop nugget Train and the arch art-punk energy of Get A Way. In comparison, songwriting partner Jeremy Thoms’ sole-penned offerings are more variable, ranging from ace (Dispersal) to the record’s worst (the Santana-like Creature of Habit), casting doubt on the band’s more definitively Haig-less future. But for now, they're scintillating.

 

 Out Now

school of seven bells, churches @ stereo, 22nd july

One song, one official gig – it’s been an economical route to the top of the hype pile for Churches. Lies proves to be just the tip of an already impressively-proportioned electro-pop iceberg, as waves of ready-formed earworms affirm the trio’s mettle – some audacious, shiny alt-hits-in-waiting, others more low-key and textural. A chock-full Stereo laps up the lot, and if we’re not mistaken, empties out a little when they finish.

School of Seven Bells’ own impressive ascent took a slight knock ahead of third album Ghostory, with Claudia Deheza’s departure thinning the heavenly vocal pool that had been a big part of their appeal. But the subsequent album’s resilient, spectral beauty proved that, on record at any rate, Benjamin Curtis and remaining Deheza twin Alejandra are undiminished by the severance.

Live, their recovery is initially less clear-cut, but vital signs are strong: while tonight’s subtle performance never quite envelopes the room like it seems it should, it’s nothing a bit of extra volume wouldn’t fix - and certainly, the crowd seem unfazed, judging from the noisy encore-clamouring. A couple of extra musicians fill out stage and sound as the duo whip up woozy melodies that have eyes closing in veneration, with Windstorm still a lofty peak; it may no longer showcase the sisters’ interlinking harmonies as it once did, but it remains a joyous highpoint.

dvd review: airborne

 

Airborne opens with the UK gripped by severe storms: shop fronts blown out, transport networks gubbed – typical summer weather basically. It’s the only convincing element in a plot that groggily veers from post-9/11 terrorism to ancient Chinese vase-demons, with minimal sense of threat, tension, or excitement. A bunkum storyline needn’t be a problem in a film like this, of course, but a couple of effective stingers aside, the results are dull, as a curious cast of soap stars, B-movie regulars and, er, Mark Hamill struggle gamely with thinly-sketched characters and unconvincing dialogue. The ex-Skywalker stays grounded in a largely pointless role – an aviation chief on (would you believe it?) his last shift before retirement – but on the plus side he gets to deliver a bizarre introductory voiceover reminiscent of a paranormal anthology series like The Outer Limits. “It’s a universal truth that sometimes we see things that can’t be explained,” he wearily intones; we wholeheartedly agree.  

Out 30th July

bis, we are the physics @ mono, 19th july

When not recording solo or infrequently gigging with Bis, Manda Rin likes to paint. Tonight’s show launches her Cover Versions and Other Hits exhibition, which takes 15 of her favourite albums and reworks their sleeves in her distinctive Manga-esque style. Sleater Kinney, X-Ray Spex… we spend the time between bands trying to decide which will fit best in our living room, opting for a Le Tigre print but coveting several others.

We Are the Physics initiate the evening’s musical attractions in typically manic fashion: a flurry of synced poses, cheeky patter and noisy Devo-influenced art-pop. It transpires they’ve recently filmed a scene for Stuart Murdoch’s God Help the Girl flick, and so invite their handsome French co-star Pierre to perform the song in question, before noisily letting loose with their own material again for the final stretch.

It’s fun, but not half as much fun as watching Bis revive their finest hyper-pop moments: from sugar-rush breakthrough Kandy Pop to the shiny surfaces of Eurodisco, they’re significantly better than our niggling cynicism led us to expect. Singing of School Discos and Sweet Shops with sky-high energy seemed like it should be a kid’s game, yet here they are, sounding as fresh as ever (though “the gaps in between are longer than they used to be”, notes John Disco with a smile). What’s more, a new song suggests they’ve plenty to offer yet. Stick around this time guys, you’ve been missed.

DVD review: Delicacy

 Delicacy offers two love stories for the price of one: a marriage cut short by a traffic accident, and the tentative relationship between widow Nathalie (Tautou) and loveable lump Markus (Damiens) that follows. Inevitably, the course of the latter does not run smooth, as friends and co-workers cast judgemental eyes on the apparent mismatch between her porcelain beauty and his balding pate and preference for beige. But by the twinkling lights of a postcard Paris, affections grow…

Life goes on; love is blind: Delicacy’s sleeves are plastered in sentiment. But it’s not the platitudes that hobble enjoyment, but rather a tonal imbalance. Bereavement drama into fluffy rom-com just won’t go, with Nathalie’s life with husband Francois too rushed to have impact, and her second-chance romance burdened with an underlying gloom. Delicacy wants to have its gâteau and eat it: to be both affecting portrait of grief and heart-warmingly carefree, but ultimately the competing ambitions cancel each other out.

Out 6th August