Departure time has arrived for Halifax’s In-Flight Safety. While the
album design for The Coast is Clear (the band’s first
full-length from 2006) was awash in Maritime blue and green, the cover
of this new album (with artwork from former Coast art director Kate
O’Connor) is inky black with pinkish-red strokes, drawing the eye to
lonesome icons: a small house burns in the distance, the setting sun
behind tall electric towers. The visuals go to the dominant theme of
we are an empire, my dear: It’s an unsafe, unstable world, so
best to have someone at your side with whom to face it.
The two-of-us-against-the-world idea brings with it a challenge
regarding tone. Hopefulness, warmth, even joy, arise, but can’t cancel
out the world-weariness, worry and outright fear. A balance must be
struck. And In-Flight Safety strikes it. Apart from the arguably
unnecessary gang vocals on a couple of tracks, the band seems to
realize its strength is in evoking mood rather than provoking reaction
with only bigger, soaring melodies. This is most evident on
“crash/land,” which opens with a plainchant piano intro (recalling the
past glory of the UK’s Talk Talk or, more recently, Tindersticks), the
rumble of “Big White Elephant,” the haunting guitar melody of “amy
racina” and the rhythmically imaginative “cloudHead.” —
This article appears in Jan 22-28, 2009.
