There’s something different about The Rails on their brilliant third album. It’s not just the sound of the record, which is harder, tougher and rockier than ever before. Cancel The Sun is melodic and immediate, a record that brings together the musical pasts of Kami Thompson and James Walbourne – her family heritage, as the daughter of Linda and Richard Thompson, and sister of Teddy; his as guitarist for Son Volt, The Pogues and The Pretenders – in a record that sounds like a pure version of themselves. You could spend hours casting around for a term to describe it, but maybe the best one would be pinched from an Eliza Carthy album title: Anglicana – music that might originate in America, but is clearly and resolutely English.
Their debut, “Fair Warning” was among my favorite record of the year for two years in a row. That’s how much I loved that record. “Cancel The Sun” is their third, and Kami Thompson and husband, Pretenders guitarist James Walbourne have expanded their musical horizons a bit further from the British folk of their debut. The sublime harmonies are still there. While some of the harder rocking tunes don’t quite work for me, “Cancel The Sun” has one of the most perfect Side Twos in recent memory, including my favorite song of the year, by anyone, “Something Is Slipping My Mind.”
