Soulful backing vocals from Amy West mingle with indie-rock guitars, hip-hop drumming, rapping from Samuel Otis and Joe Eden on opening track Tell Em Lies, it’s reminscent of Handcream For A Generation-era Cornershop, joyful and catchy corralling together a range of influences into something appealing and buoyant.
Carry The Fire is a mellow track about a guy who pursued his musical dreams with some impressively hi-speed rapping, it has twinkly glockenspiel and melancholy organ. It’s a potentially autobiographical hymn to determination, that, in this instance, pays off, and erupts into a giddy drum-n-bass finale. It’s a testament to producer/engineer Vee Kay that he pulls this one off even when the rapping at times gets a little close to boyband 5ive with its gruff grunts. Out In The Rain has a classic-rock swagger, it’s a bit of a damp number, with a lacklustre chorus, a dull narrative and lacking the musical invetion that perked up earlier tracks.
Final song Here and the Now is a return to form after that slight mis-step, a light and danceable anthem to creatives suffering through potentially soul-crushing jobs; ‘For the doers and the dreamers!’ they chant on the choruses whilst a body shaking drum beat from Luke Wookash shuffles slinkily in amongst jabs and stabs of synth and a whirling lead line. Though it bafflingly comes to an abrupt finish which feels more like there’s been an error burning the tracks to the CD than actual intention!?
Despite a few wobbles this is a pretty fun little record, inventive and imaginative at the best of times, but usually just content to entertain, which it often does.
[Rating:3]
