ALBUM REVIEWS

Athlete
BLACK SWAN
FICTION 24.8.09
@www.vanguard-online.co.uk


I’m a big fan of the debut – Vehicles And Animals, an album of unaffected emotion and utter lack of cynicism. The very real sense of humanity and vision outside the me, me, me sensitivity of contemporaries makes the album authentic and affecting. And Athlete seem to have stayed true to that vision, through the arrival of success with the mawkish Wires single from Tourist. Creatures of habit, this album arrives two years after the last, as have the last two. Live, this band feels real and honestly surprised and pleased at the public continuing to allow their career and music. They are fortunate in the voice of Joel Potts, which always sounds like it really really means it.

Fourth album, Black Swan is here and carries the same torch as its predecessors (though they have wisely brought in an external producer after going it alone last time). They open with Superhuman, a compendium of all their strongest tropes. Glittering keyboards, optimism and an uplifting tune – “I’m on fire and nothings going to hold me back, endless blue sky and a pocket full of tricks to try”, sings Joel Potts. Other songs follow familiar patterns; ballads, uplifting stadium songs and soft-rockers. Athlete have always sounded like a stadium band but haven’t been touched by the hand of big fame yet and, after four albums, may not get to that point. It’s feeling like they’re going to be the Shed Seven of their generation while whiny bed-wetters like Coldplay make it big. That’s just the way of things and there are folks, even in the Vanguard Towers household, who find them dull.

Lyrics seem to have a slightly more mystical turn – lots of mentions of fairy dust, eternity, a sea of stars, and the titular Black Swan Song – a paean to approaching death. The Unknown is practically a mantra and much of the rest of the content is wishes for the well-being of others. Magical Mistakes is a life-affirming love song and closer, Rubik’s Cube is an absolutely typical Athlete song – anthemic chorus, quiet bit, big build up, quiet ending. Always a keyboard-heavy band, the usual percussive sounds are added to with a lot of string sounds, making a big, happy soupy sound. If this is a last grab at big sales, it has, a least, retained the band’s integrity.

Ross McGibbon

www.athlete.mu