So He Begins to Lie – Talking at the beginning much like the “keep rolling” from Red Light Indicates Doors are Secure. Not particularly poetic lyrics – “His reflection faded”. This song reminded me of AFI of all bands (a certain Beanhead may or may not agree). It’s very noisy, with a relentless grunge riff. Not particularly moving.
3×3 – It sounds like Kele is repeating “No one loves you” but he might not be. Quite violent lyrics anyhow. Again, not particularly moving.
Octopus – This was the first track we heard from the album. The first track that sounds like it could be vaguely memorable, that’s probably because it’s the first one I’ve heard more than once. It’s got that loop pedal end of Banquet guitar thing in it which is cool to listen to perhaps. The solo approaches something okay. Russell’s enjoying himself.
Real Talk – “Can we get real for a moment?” Sounds a bit Kilroy. I’ve heard this one via a bootleg on YouTube. My favourite so far. Kele’s voice in the upper register works well, tender and vulnerable. Do I hear a banjo? Again, lyrics are not Dylan. Trails off a bit by the end to something vague, maybe even possessing a recent Chili Peppers sound here.
Kettling – Starts with Kele saying – “Err, just talking about my feelings, yeah I was just feeling my breast, yeah it was turkey breast? I was keeping abreast of the situation.” That’s silly and ill-thought through. This is the most grunge influenced track so far, could be Smashing Pumpkins. Solo at the end sounds like Rainbow. This one has the potential to have potential. “We can feel it in our bones.”
Day Four – “It’s in the trees” This is gorgeous, but maybe I should just listen to So Here We Are. I’m hearing Foals, Bombay Bicycle Club, Maccabbees all that NME crowd. This is better than all the other tracks combined. I’ve booked live tickets and I was dreading it from the album so far, but I hope they play this.
Coliseum – This is the first Bloc Party blues track! It could be Robert Plant. Then it turns into Metallica. “Why are they playing metal?” Said Sibyl. Need I say? Not particularly moving.
V.A.L.I.S. – This seems to be a love song to some boy Kele is interested in. The chorus verges on being catchy. The lyrics on this one seem to be a little more adventurous. I might listen to this one again and enjoy it! Maybe dance to it! I just put headphones on and this makes the songs sound significantly better. Note to self – do not review albums with tinny laptop headphones.
Team A – Thankfully it isn’t so far so Ed Shearan. This is another I’ve heard on’t tube of you. Something fairly cool about Kele whispering in my ear “I’m gonna ruin your life”. He references The Groucho, isn’t that a hip club that B-list people go to? Yes, I’ve just Wikipediad it. This track goes on a bit. I’m not going to mention anything about whether it moved me, it didn’t. At the end of the track Kele says this to someone: “The thing is, how would I know it was a spider bite, a friend of mine in school when he came back from Africa and he had strange lumps on his arm out popped lots of baby spiders.” THIS AUDIO QUOTE THING IS UTTERLY MEDIOCRE.
Truth – This is good. So far. I like any mention of truth, it’s one of the most beautiful concepts anyone can discuss. It drops from a five star track to a four star track about 30 secs in. Chorus says “you complete me”, that’s difficult to get away with saying, but I suppose this is a fun pop song. If I was the boss I’d say choose this as the single. Ooh, some violins. Then again, if this was the single, I wouldn’t put it on the Radio 1 playlist or the Radio 2 playlist. Xfm would play it. It’s finishing off with a solid 3.5 stars in my book. The most common rating I tend to give stuff.
The Healing – This track won’t play.
We Are Not Good People – This is a bit of metal/punk shtick. I would go to The Astoria and mosh to this if I was sixteen. Interesting title. A bit of apologetics while we’re here:
If God is God then why is he secret?
Today’s the day you’ve been set free
They might claim the best things are hidden
But I was here, you came to me
The hidden things are not our concern, the good news is that God has revealed numerous amounts of truths to us in his Word. See Deuteronomy 29:29. Taid preached some sermons on this a year ago this week (round about).
So. That’s my immediate response to the album. It isn’t very good on first listen. But I’ve thought that about lots of music though. But usually, more stuff jumps out at me. We’ll see. But, perhaps the dream is over. My favourite band may have just gone and taken it too far.
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