Have Some Faith In Magic

Three is the magic number for all adventure Glaswegians.
Over the course of umpteen singles, a couple of EPs and two previous albums, Errors have exhibited an experimental zeal that would make a mad scientist proud. There have been incidents of glorious alchemy along the way, when their varied configurations of krautrock, post-rock, shoegaze and electro yielded something truly special. The only disappointment was that they couldn’t maintain that sense of the extraordinary for a full album. Until now.
There are still moments of dream-state wooziness (‘Blank Media’), electronic jiggery-pokery (‘The Knock’) and songs like ‘Barton Spring’ – as beautiful and delicate as a newborn. However, as opener ‘Tusk’ indicates, this album is determined to be more memorable than any previous Errors release, the melodies big and ‘look at me’ brash. Laden with fizzing synths, the multi-textured ‘Pleasure Palaces’ is as intoxicating as a dip in a vat of champagne. Similarly, the diverse parts of ‘Magna Encarta’ – all barrelling rhythms and electronic splutter – are put together with watchmaker precision.
Vocals, not previously much of a concern, have been more fully incorporated here, helping to instil warmth into a landscape characterised by pulsing electronics and ice-edged guitar. ‘Earthscore’ finds spacey chants paired with frothy keys, sounding like an Amazonian tribe colliding with the 21st century. Meanwhile, on ‘Cloud Chamber’, the spectral voices suggest ghosts trying to commune with the living. All told, Have Some Faith In Magic feels like the end-point Errors have long been striving towards, the record on which they’ve literally and metaphorically found their voice.