Datura
Datura gives Boston Manor's alternative rock a more concentrated setting. Across seven tracks, electronic textures and heavier guitar parts create a dark, continuous atmosphere, with large vocal melodies cutting through it. The short running time keeps the ideas focused. It also leaves the record feeling slightly incomplete, particularly when its atmospheric passages take space away from the songs.
Datura (Dusk) sets the mood through synthesizers and a restrained vocal. The transition into Floodlights On The Square gives that preparation a clear destination, bringing in stronger guitars and an expansive chorus. The contrast is direct, but the darker background makes the familiar rock arrangement feel more distinctive.
Foxglove adds a sharper burst of energy. Its heavier movement gives the album an important change of pressure, preventing the surrounding atmosphere from becoming too settled. Henry Cox's voice is central to the effect, able to make the melody forceful without abandoning the record's uneasy character.
Passenger makes the electronic production particularly useful. The processed drums and lingering guitar sound give it a different kind of movement, with a large chorus keeping it connected to the band's more immediate writing. Crocus develops a harsher mechanical edge, allowing the synth character and jagged sound to carry more of the tension.
Shelter From The Rain offers a much quieter connection between the later songs. Its synth textures and rain create a convincing place inside the album, although a sizeable instrumental passage matters more when there are only seven tracks available. The atmosphere is effective; the amount of substantial song material is less generous.
Inertia makes a strong final impression through its layered, more open arrangement. The closing increase in intensity gives the sequence some release before the sound falls away. It ends with purpose, even if the larger collection still seems to be reaching towards another stage.
Datura works best as a focused whole. The electronic detail supports the guitar playing, and its strongest choruses remain clear inside the darker production. More individual peaks would help it stand completely on its own, but Boston Manor have made an engaging record with an unusually consistent sense of place.
