8mm Songs To Live And Die By by: Dean Van Nguyen Tue:30-Oct-07 Label: Curb Appeal Year: 2007 WB rating 80 out of 100

Richard Ashcroft, frontman of newly reformed Britpop heroes The Verve, once said “I started in ’92 and I’ll take on any fucker who started then and they won’t come close to me. And I believe that. I don’t give a fuck. Yeah, you might have sold more or been sung at more karaoke meetings but did they change lives and help people? My songs fucking did.”

Indeed, Ashcroft did write some crushingly beautiful anthems, ‘History’, ‘Sonnet’, ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’; these were real songs to love and die by. I don’t know if 8mm mastermind Sean Beavan owned a copy of Urban Hymns, but on the group’s debut album he’s assembled a set of consistently dark, cinematic break-up songs that sound straight from Ashcroft’s songbook circa 1997.

While undoubtedly this is a lesson in indie songwriting, the twist is that 8mm also lean heavily on the ‘90s trip-hop sound, utilising slow, heavy drum beats and acid guitar licks. It’s a gorgeous mix, but not one expected from Beavan, who is best known for his work as a producer/mixer for acts like Marilyn Manson and Slayer.

His wife Juliette provides the lead vocals, her sexy, seductive voice penetrating the soul of the listener and elevating the emotionally-charged tracks to a higher plain. Each song sounds like a beautifully formed love letter of despair, no more so than opener ‘No Way Back’. Damned piano chords combine with gentle string arrangements providing a solid base, and Juliette sings with all the passion of an on-fire Ashcroft. “Babe, I know you never leave without your gun. But if you let it be and just sit down and lay your head on me” she desperately pleads. Rarely has a singer conveyed such emotional material so convincingly.

Elsewhere ‘Stunning’ is an instantly catchy anthem and features a slippery guitar riff. ‘Give It Up’ rides on a haze of fuzzed-up electric guitar and could have easily slid onto trip-hop pioneers Portishead’s much celebrated debut Dummy. The only misstep here is when Sean takes centre stage, performing lead vocals on clunky closer ‘Forever and Ever Amen’, which is as puzzling as its title, but coming so late in the piece it’s only a minor stumble.

It’s hard to remember a debut album as assured as this one. Songs to Live and Die By as a record is both immediately satisfying and an exciting flagship for a producer and songwriter perhaps destined for greater things. After all, even Ashcroft had to wait until album number three to drop his masterpiece.