Journey's End

iTunes Review

The third full-length studio album from the U.K.’s Montgolfier Brothers is best known as All My Bad Thoughts to most of the world. The duo’s sedate soundscapes settle in somewhere between ambient and ethereal with comparisons to Michael Nyman being somewhat apt. Mark Tranmer’s keyboard washes are constantly churning like waves to shore while vocalist Roger Quigley sings in an understated tone that this time around sings not about abandoned love but the way life has changed over the decades. The group invites friend Dave Campion for “Quite an Adventure” to recount the Manchester of his youth. This delicate album is filled with touching, sorrow-bound melodies (“The First Rumours of Spring,” “All My Bad Thoughts,” “Sins & Omission”) and tales that belong to an era long past. The twin album closers, “Journey’s End” and “It’s Over, It’s Ended, It’s Finished” are steadfast in their viewpoint. Tranmer often records solo as GNAC and Quigley as At Swim Two Birds.