ALBUM REVIEW: Give Me Beauty… Or Give Me Death! – EF

The mid-2000s were a febrile time for seminal post-rock bands. The likes of GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR and SIGUR RÓS made impacts beyond the confines of the genre, whilst modern mainstays such as CASPIAN and THIS WILL DESTROY YOU got their starts. Add to this list Swedish outfit EF, whose 2006 debut Give Me Beauty… Or Give Me Death! earned positive reviews for its evocative soundscapes and emotion. Twenty years on, EF have chosen to commemorate their landmark debut with a full re-recording and re-arrangement.

It’s a curious choice, but one that makes sense from the band’s perspective. Both the line-up and sound of EF have developed considerably over two decades and five albums, yet their debut remains a firm favourite. Opener Ett perhaps best shows the band’s growth. The original version is a thin, twee affair, clearly inspired by The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place by EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY in its guitar tones and drum mix. The new version has more patience, with a slower tempo, layering in new textures of vocals, chimes, and horns. It has much more presence and a clearer identity – sweeping, grander, more confident.

Building out a thicker, grander sound clearly formed part of the motivation for this version. Nearly every song finds its arrangements augmented with more strings, choir vocals and stabs of horns, adding to the drama and reinforcing the beautiful melodies on display in the likes of Misinform The Uninformed and Final Touch / Hidden Agenda. The additions aren’t phoned-in bombast for its own sake – they feel organic, deftly arranged, adding life and depth to what made the original songs great rather than reinventing them.

One notable change from the original is the inclusion of a new song, Noll, replacing what was a loose interlude at the end of Misinform The Uninformed (itself originally a bonus song later shifted to Track 2 in a 2010 remaster). Here, the band’s modern DNA is evident: greater confidence in driving the song with vocals and strings, and a minor-key palette at odds with the brightness of the rest of the album. It refrains from hitting a vast crescendo, a maturity more in line with their latest album We Salute You, You and You!.

It’s a strong choice to place it in the middle of the running order, particularly amidst a run of the album’s three best songs. The aforementioned melodic simplicity of Misinform The Uninformed remains a delight, as does the fragile builds and thunderous releases of Final Touch / Hidden Agenda. The centrepiece and standout remains Hello Scotland, a 12-minute epic imbued with nostalgia and longing, perfectly paced. The changes here are more restrained, recognising the unique elements that make the song brilliant and letting them breathe. It’s superlative post-rock, the kind of song that can catch you in an unguarded moment and leave you quite emotional.

There’s a little more brio to the vocal delivery across the album, the impact of twenty years of developed import and age making itself evident. Soft, SIGUR RÓS-inspired deliveries find themselves a little more fragile, a touch more distinct. The final lines of Hello Scotland get a little more energy, and tortured screams fill out the crashing chords that conclude Tomorrow My Friend. Those later songs milk the drama a little more, but lack the same lasting quality of the standouts.

But the primary focus is on production and arrangements. Everything is much more polished, the compressor dials turned up in line with the modern oeuvre. The result is an easier listen, albeit with some loss of dynamic range. The original’s sparse moments of quiet are now bolder, filled with new elements. It’s difficult to say whether this represents a lack of confidence, or simply an expression of a vision EF lacked the tools and knowledge to follow through on twenty years prior.

It’s fair to ask if this new version of Give Me Beauty… Or Give Me Death! is an indulgence, one that diminishes the unique characteristics of the original in favour of bombast and nostalgia. But then, what would be more fitting for what is, in so many ways, a nostalgic album? EF have taken their debut, a delicate and twee object of beauty, and re-expressed it with a hard-won voice and confidence developed over the years. The result is a careful and worthwhile labour borne of love and affection for this album. The real achievement, though, is the enduring quality of those standout songs.

Rating: 8/10

Give Me Beauty… Or Give Me Death! is out now via Pelagic Records.

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