Gifted Kings’ sound is very much reminiscent not of the ‘idols’ they’ve named as hanging over the recording of their album (Queen, Bowie, The Stone Roses and Oasis, amongst others, also recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales where Gifted Kings laid the tracks for ‘Lose What Makes You’, and the album was produced by Nick Brine, who’s worked with Oasis, The Darkness and Bruce Springsteen to name a few), but more of a number of strains of 80s rock. Opener ‘Rains Will Come’ has a post-punk alt-rock bluster, while ‘The Last Time’ is a mid-tempo stadium-slanted anthem.
‘Lose What Makes You’ sounds and feels like a big album with a big sound and a big heart. Bands like The Alarm spring to mind by way of reference. What makes Gifted Kings worth the trouble is that for all the hands in the air, lighter waving tunes, they’re not lacking in emotional depth: they sound like they mean it, like they’re really feeling it, and it’s not all upbeat fluff, either. ‘The longer I wait the more it keeps fading away,’ Derek Murray sings on ‘Dead End Road’ and he’s pouring his soul into it.
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‘Tell Me Something’ steps up from a fairly ordinary radio-friendly rock number thanks to some urgent guitars, and ‘The Last Time’ rides on a wave of widescreen guitars and echoes post ‘Everything Must Go’ MSP.
There are some vintage solos and breaks, and the Kings know a mean lick when they hear one, too, placing ‘Lose What Makes You’ very much in the ‘classic’ category.
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