The Blue Nile: Peace at Last

You can spot a Blue Nile fan at the bus stop – they're the ones not giving out about the bus being late. Fans waited patiently for five years for the Scottish trio to follow up A Walk Across the Rooftop, their 1984 cult classic, then another seven years for this, their third album. Their patience was amply rewarded: Peace at Last found Paul Buchanan, Robert Bell and Paul Joseph Moore adding more textures to their electro-acoustic palette, and balancing their detached sense of wonder with a deeply personal feeling of empathy, all wrapped in a warm cloak of spirituality. Gospel-like opener Happiness begins with Buchanan mired in self-doubt, then raised up by an amateur choir. Sentimental Man and Love Came Down are classic Blue Nile workouts, drums and bass wound tightly around gliding guitars and key-boards, Buchanan's soulful cry gently coaxing out the emotion. Family Life is a melancholy Christmas song in search of something to believe in, while Holy Love finds God in the digital details. Bonus tracks include an unreleased demo of Certain Kind of Angel.
Download tracks: Happiness, Sentimental Man, Body & Soul, Family Life