IT LEADS TO THIS

"It Leads To This" is the latest THE PINEAPPLE THIEF offering released in 2024. This is a band who just has not stopped the last seven years, even during the pandemic they may have been the most active band out there. Their last album "Versions Of The Truth" was a solid record but I like this one better. It's so old school here for Bruce and the boys with all the tracks ranging between 4 1/2 to 6 minutes and almost all the music is mid-paced. But it's how they contrast sections and change things up that makes this work. Those trippy passages, the heaviness or the experimental bits all work as contrasts to the melodic and mostly mellow music provided here. I really like this record.

It's pretty cool in the liner notes to see seven pictures of what is supposed to be the same person from when he is a boy all the way to being an old man. A gradual process. This is such a consistent record maybe the most consistent of their whole catalogue. Picking a top three would be hard but the one song I seemed to resonate with the most was "All Thats Left" the way it starts out like a whisper to shouting as it were later on.

I have been on THE PINEAPPLE THIEF bus for almost 20 years. When Gavin came on board for the album "Your Wilderness" I think it was like catching lightning in a bottle. With Bruce's already emotional lyrics, then bringing in a world class drummer to the fold, well that first album with him will always be my favourite. The live tour that followed gave us "Where We Stood" a top three for me and again this is an inspired band right here saying look at us now! And how about the wordless vocals from Bruce so unique to those two albums. My top three would also include "Little Man" from 2006 which encapsulates all that went before with some of their best songs and emotion to burn here.

Yes time to get off the bus, it's time. I do recommend this one quite highly though if your already a fan.