21st May 2021
Mature, developed and thought out. Well, it would be, three years after the band’s debut single. Or would it? This is only the band’s debut album and it is already showing signs of how they’d like to sound in a stadium. The range is wide, very wide, in styles but the common denominator is an adult sound – paced, balanced and cleanly produced. Not at all what we expect in a first album.
The opener, Impala, starts off with an EDM flat four beat before repetitive aggressive rhythm guitar and tight, fuzzed, vocals. People Like You has an elastic picked guitar figure. Next up, a poised and thoughtful ballad, Only Light. At times the band edges to progressive rock but not in an overblown way, more a dreamy edge, sense of space and things like Black and Red’s vaguely Eastern phrasings, musings on Autumnal feelings, speech sample and instrumental workout. However, there is a lot of variety and Drive Me To The Dusk has a rhythm that says ‘The Clash play rock and roll’ while the voice and mood say The Stranglers. Elsewhere there are nicely dark musical colours, detailed guitar work and interesting drum patterns. Choppy guitar chord progressions keep the tension up and the overall sound is a fully developed and mature rock band.
This is simply surprisingly well developed and covers a range of styles without losing its focus. The polish to the sound and poise to the delivery gives the feel of a band ready to play to large, phone-waving crowds.