There’s no questioning the fact this band has an impressive resume: They’ve headlined throughout the UK, played as support to Elbow, Idlewild and Snow Patrol, played SXSW not once but twice, opening for both Susanna Hoffs and The Presidents of the United States of America. An odd mix, that’s for sure, but testament to their immensely broad appeal.
Opening track ‘Iwan’ is a subtly seductive song, rich in atmosphere and reverb, a slow-burning dark pop song, while ‘The Fathom Line’, a hymn to the band’s hometown of Dundee, is something of a Britpop stomper, with a sound that makes Suede comparisons hard to resist.
The slower, more melancholy ‘All is Forgotten’ flicks some Johnny Marr-esque jangle in the guitars, and elsewhere, the mellow country of ‘In Shadows Under Trees’ is a tad mawkish, the lap steel and fiddle smoochy rather than emotive, the harmonica break just a little too obvious to be necessary.
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But what holds the album together is a knack for creating catchy guitar-driven indie rock, with a hint of Mansun, a dash of prog, a generous sprinkling of 60s pop, elements of Merseybeat peppered here and there, and a strong uplifting pop sensibility.
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