The debut album from the UK indie-ish duo of brothers is arriving with a lot of hype to it, as the band have been gradually building steam for a few years now. I’ve heard the name everywhere but have somehow never really heard their music… until now! I thought they were definitely worth a full deep dive review, so without further ado, let’s dive right in!
‘Magic Box’ opens up the album perfectly, a great indie-rock guitar and vocal melody with more instrumentation building in over and over. It gives Drew Holcomb vibes, or even Jack Johnson. It sounds awesome, and is immediately catchy as hell! The backing vocals with the ‘ooo’s, harmonies and gang vocals add even more depth to it, too. The track is crafted to perfection, with every sound fitting excellently and it all forming something truly magical. It sets the tone of the album amazingly and is honestly one of my favourite tracks of the year. Immediately a huge highlight!
More quirky instrumentation comes in as a steal drum opens ‘Killer Spell’. Then we get more of the great Americana-indie stuff, building into a truly massive, arena-filling chorus. This one is much more James Bay, in the best possible way! The lead guitar bits throughout are awesome too, having so much feel to them and fitting the vibe of the track well. It’s another amazing track, and one that I feel is gonna be stuck in my head for days to come!
‘I’m on Fire’ strips things back and slows things down in a beautiful piano ballad. It’s maybe a touch early for a track like this on the album, but honestly, it felt completely natural here and fit the pace of the album perfectly. It builds incredibly to yet another HUGE chorus, the backing vocals and drums adding so much to the epicness of the track. It dropping back down for the bridge before exploding back in for a final chorus was masterful; powerful as it was beautiful. The band so far are three for three on excellent tracks!
The only track I’d heard before this, ‘Walk Away’, changes the pace again into a blues banger. The riff is amazing, and it building with the drum and bass and harmonies more and more into an infectiously catchy chorus! It drops out perfectly for a bridge before we get a double time, almost bluegrass-tinged guitar solo, which was sick! Still, it has that same indie feel to it at the same time, feeling very much like the same band. And I kinda liked it dropping back for the outro chorus, it almost bringing the track full circle. Banger after banger so far!
As if my mind hadn’t been blown enough already, ‘Evel Kinevel’ starts with a gospel chorus, god clap and everything, and was awesome! Then we get a great indie riff with Adams amazing vocals over the top. Once again, it builds perfectly to the now expectedly huge chorus, just made to be played to massive festival crowds around the world! It’s yet another song that I can expect to be stuck in my head for the next few days, and is yet another fantastic track!
Single ‘The Last Dance’ brings the blues riffing back, much like ‘Move Your Body’. Both are great, up-tempo tracks that definitely get you… well… moving your body! They definitely sound distinctly like Foreign Affairs while having a more indie-rock edge to them. And they break up the album pretty perfectly, keeping the energy up around the mid-point.
The next few tracks slow things down again with some great ballad writing. Whether it’s the Bay-like acousticness of ‘Baby Blue’ or ‘Adam’s Song’ or the piano-led nature of ‘Flowers in the Window’, it’s all so beautiful and powerful. I do have to say it does grind the pace of the album down to a crawl a touch, and is a lot of slower stuff all at once. I don’t know if it’s just my tiny attention span, but I think I’d struggle to listen to all four tracks one-after-another on many listens. All are incredible songs on their own, but when together it’s a touch much for me, and highlights how insanely stacked the first half of the album is. Still, if you like more of an easy-listening vibe, check out every single one of these. ‘Hummingbird and Me’ in particular is another massive highlight track.
The album concludes with a two parter; ‘One Minute’. Part 1 is amazing, the vocal delivery honestly giving me goosebumps at times. It’s the perfect nearly-two-minutes of folk-rock. Meanwhile part 2 is a full-length track packed full or a similar brilliant, beautiful, vulnerable level of emotion. They very much fit together like two pieces of the same puzzle, and while are incredible separate, are perfect together. How is it not one of the biggest tracks of the year already? If you check out anything off this album, let it be this; it’s truly phenomenal. The lyrics are incredible, and the instrumentation and delivery fit the gravitas of them perfectly. What a way to close out this release!
Overall: This is an incredible release! I went into it not really knowing what to expect and was utterly blown away by the whole thing. There are so many killer tracks on this, and practically no filler. The band blend genres seamlessly, and have put out something truly heartfelt and personal with this release. I am a new, huge fan of the band, and already cannot wait to hear what they do next. However, for now, I’ll be spinning this a bunch moving forward!
The Score: 9.5/10