Archive – Restriction

On the surface, Restriction gives the impression of being With Us Until You're Dead Pt. II. Lacking the conceptual standpoint of other recent Archive albums, with 12 mid-length tracks, and even with matching text on the spine, the album prepares the listener for another slightly incoherent selection of ideas, with one or two excellent moments.

Thankfully, Restriction is actually an album full of surprises. And none moreso than opener 'Feel It'. While the band have flirted with overtly guitar-pop sounds in the past (notably on Take My Head and Noise), 'Feel It' is a straight-up indie rock track, with choppy guitars and little in the way of electronics. It and its follow-up, the chirpy title track, suggest the album is going to be a guitar-led affair, only to be knocked off-course by Hannah Martin's first appearance on the heavy electronic 'Kid Corner'. All three songs are of a similar tempo and play without pause, giving the effect of a continuous suite. The album is split into similar runs of three throughout, suiting the album's double LP format well.

The second run of tracks brings the mood down with three slow electric-piano-led ballads, with vocals split between Hannah Martin, Pollard Berrier, and Maria Q, with her only contribution here, 'Half Built Houses'. All three tracks are brimming with the same melancholy feeling found on the previous year's Axiom, but missing the strings and bigger production. Certainly Restriction is the sound of a reduced band, with fewer guest players; the record is by far the collective's smallest scale record since Lights, nearly ten years before.

Part three of the album is the loudest and fastest section, and probably the weakest. At this point, Keeler, Griffiths and the various vocalists have provided such a wealth of beautifully melodic work that songs like 'Riding in Squares' feel a little lacking: a reminder of why With Us Until You're Dead was such a disappointing record. The rocky 'Ruination' would be salvageable, were it not for Dave Pen's tendency to pronounce the repeated 'you' as 'yer'.

The closing side opens with the album's strongest song, and one of the band's finest moments to date: the brooding noir ballad 'Black and Blue'. I first came across this track through the video on YouTube, and the visuals have stuck with me since - definitely worth checking out. Video aside, the song is hauntingly beautiful, with Hannah Martin's voice perfectly set to reverbed guitar and synth pads. So many of Archive's best songs are the simplest, and this is the epitome. Set midway through the noisier second half of the record, the song's starkness is even more effective than it would be alongside the similarly moody songs nearer the start.

Dave Pen's 'Greater Goodbye' is similar in its bleak mood, although the heartbreak is set to a distorted electronic backing and sarcastic 'la la la' backing vocals. Notably, Pen's contributions on Restriction are larger than on previous albums, much to the benefit of the group, as his songwriting wears its heart on its sleeve more overtly than Pollard Berrier's more refined sound. That said, Berrier turns in one of his darkest pieces on closer 'Ladders', that finishes the album - and this final melancholic trio - on an emotionally draining note.

If a sense of heart-wrenching melancholy inhabits Restriction from start to finish, it's mostly one that unites the bulk of the 'collective' era of Archive. As a general listening experience, the album plays out as four sets of three tracks - as it is laid out on the sleeve, and heard on the vinyl edition. Despite this slightly disted feel, however, the songwriting is mostly excellent and, other than side three, the group turn in a consistent set of tracks, including a couple of their best to date. The fact that this album came out only a year after their adventurous album/film project Axiom, only goes to show how prolific and consistent the band are at this point in their career.