The Search – The Search For Connection Contact And Community
One of my pet loves from Uppsala in Sweden, The Search modestly go about their business making saturated dream pop in the vein of The Church and The Cure . This is their fifth long player, although a radical line-up shift makes the whole thing seem like a reboot. At least lead man Razmig Tekeyan is still around so the thematic heart and soul of The Search remains intact. Something else though is missing.
Connection Contact and Community ( CCC ) is light in tone but it would probably be unfair to cite this as the reason for its downfall. The Search lightened up a fair while ago, somewhere between Bazaar of Lush Loose Limbs and Deranged Minds Unite . Indeed their previous album, Saturnine Songs , which I rated highly, was full of gentle, ambient explorations. CCC is patchy. It feels like a bunch of outtakes from material spanning the whole Search career, the exact same affliction which blighted OMD’s History Of Modern . Good as it is, in places, it just doesn’t feel like an album, doesn’t come across as a statement of intent the way Saturnine Songs undoubtedly did. CCC by contrast, is a clutch of bonuses. If we treat it as such, a kind of The Search epilogue , CCC is actually quite gratifying. There are some lovely songs, ‘Jet’, for example, and the exquisite ‘Alone In A Space Shuttle’. There are also some standout moments. The finale to ‘Silent Days’ where Tekeyan shrieks “will it stay the same, only silent days” his voice almost breaking is nothing short of exhilarating.
Lyrically the album walks the same nostalgia paths as you would expect from this band. There’s a lot less symbolism this time around. But still we get paeans to old girlfriends, moving back home, the pragmatist Vs the dreamer – typical morsels from the mind of Razmig Tekeyan. The musicianship on CCC is faultless and I have no gripe with the new line-up whatsoever. Existing Search fans certainly shouldn’t give up on the band just yet. But if we’re honest, if this record lacks thrills and it lacks a purpose. The music is often lovely, but never quite freezes the blood in your veins. Yet as a weary, end of career, (I hope not) reflection, CCC is as comfy as a favourite pair of slippers by the fireside. The sad thing is, The Search were once that fire!
The Search for excitement, intent and identity. An eternally interesting songwriter fanning the embers. Not quite extinguished yet.