Acoustic based band Colour The Atlas from Swindon are a good looking bunch. I absolutely despise good looking people. I HATE the beautiful people that wander this planet deified by the rest of us insipid mere mortals for their awe inspiring achievement of simply being born with good genes and high cheekbones. Favoured over the aesthetically disabled on a daily basis they live in a world of blissful ignorance, fluttering eyes hiding the complete vacuum of thought in their feeble grey matter… Of course this swings in roundabouts and awful bitter people like me will pigeon-hole them in the category of talentless moron almost upon sight, destined to win the X Factors of the world, be hugely successful but always eluded by even the most microscopic drop of true talent or originality.
With this in mind and the cackles of some of my fellow vultures in the staff room still ringing in my ears with venom at any press pack that refers to a bands second record as Sophomoric (enough with the Americanisms ok? I still haven’t forgiven them for the word Douche). I begin to sharpen my verbal knife because luckily the saying if you have nothing good to say then say nothing at all doesn’t apply to sadistic writers and no amount of Facebook ‘likes’ in the world can save you now…
Music might though…
Paper Wings is a good start to the EP with singer Jess Hall proving straight off the bat that she has a good set of lungs on her, an overtly feminine, airy tone with some pretty harmonies and into a very nice drop with dancelike synthetic sounds and echoed drums for the chorus which is instantly catchy. I’m in danger of having to delete the first half of this review… There is a hint of Alpines there and fashionable The XX. Though they stay true to their acoustic based roots although the lyrics aren’t really my cup of tea.
Revolutions is by far my favourite song of the EP, it’s absolutely stunning! A really warm chorus that if you feel nothing when you hear it then there is a distinct possibility that you are dead and no one has told you yet. The track starts with keys and Jess’s gorgeous voice which is sounding similar to Lana Del Rey. The vocals are then underpinned by Alex Stone’s harmonies which work extremely well together, you can see how their debut EP reached number two in the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart and they warranted a support slot with Newton Faulkner on a UK tour recently.
According to their press pack Blue Eyes is a live favourite, it didn’t really work for me personally so maybe it works better live. Very soft and acoustic with a slight Magic Numbers tinge to it in my mind it slowly builds up to an ending that is a little disappointing.
Last track Rise begins with some synth strings and has a quaintness to it but still fails to reach anywhere near the peaks of Revolutions but still gives you a little tingle with some dramatic drums and harmonies that are reminiscent of acoustic maestro Luke Pickett.
An EP of highs and lows for me (I’m going to go back and listen to Revolutions again now) but that’s just my opinion which luckily is what music is all about otherwise we would all be just listening to what Simon Cowell has decided he wants to make lots of money from this week.
Building Skyscrapers is out now on I-Tunes through Ugly Truth Records.
[Rating:2.5]
