Albany - The Bull And The Bear EP
In their press release Albany are compared to the likes of Elbow and Turin Brakes and I can see why, especially the Turin Brakes. The band have a polished, melody-driven sound and an accomplished style that belies the fact that they are still early in their careers.
I’d also throw Kaiser Chiefs and early Crowded House (back before they sold millions of records singing about the weather) in to the mix as reference points. Guy Hixon’s voice has distinct overtones of Neil Finn in places and the songs have the kind of energy last seen predicting riots.
The EP opens with ‘Ghostly’, a jolly, janglly canter through the minefield of modern life and then moves in to ‘Puppets’, one of the two outstanding tracks on here, a high energy romp, with a fantastic driving rhythm section and some great changes of tempo.
‘Wolves At The Door’ is perhaps the track that most brought to mind Crowded House with the great line ‘What is happening, my mind is playing murder in the dark’. More of a slow burner this, but a great vocal performance and has really grown on me over the course of a few listens.
‘Radar’ and then ‘Let You Down’, the other outstanding track here, round out the EP. ‘Let You Down’ could be their break through moment, it just has the sound of a radio-friendly unit shifter. It’s hard to put one’s finger on exactly why, but it’s just one of those tracks with X factor, so to speak.
Interestingly, the band are distributing the album themselves via their website using the Radiohead style ‘honesty box’ model, so you can pay for it if you want or take for free if you don’t. I’d implore you to give the guys a couple of quid though, it’s well worth it.
All in all, an accomplished record from a band starting out on a road that I would be not at all surprised to see end up somewhere special.
Top Tracks: 'Puppets', ‘Let You Down’.
Released March 6th From www.albanyband.com