Glasgow quintet who I first encountered at the Emergenza "Battle Of The Bands" a couple of years back and then semi-followed their career until one day everything changed. Having not accessed their myspace site for a while, I was checking it for gigs and discovered this wondrous song flowing from the speakers. From that moment on, I knew I had to hear what this band was now up to. The first thing to land on the doorstep was a brand new album, later followed by a new single (to be reviewed) - this is that album. The first few things that grab you about the 12 songs on this album are that they are recorded professionally and sound absolutely top quality, with everyhing coming across clearly and in detail. Secondly, there's that fantastic sound of chiming dual electric guitars that ring out like church bells or forge ahead with purpose and determination. The rhythm section play it with a dynamic quality where you just know you're going to hear something new there every time you play it and not just a tired set of backing rhythms. Then there are the keyboarsds, used more subtly than you might expect, ading a greater textural quality to the songs and providing them with depth and expanse. On top of all this there are the vocals - immediately identified as warm, pasionate, emotive and impassioned, lead and harmonies delivered with heart on sleeve and that wonderful sens of yearning and meaning which makes up the finest vocalists around. In short, from start to finish, this is the most incredible album with not a less than fantastic track on it.
The opener "Sign Away" sets the scene with all of this at the start,as the song slowly begins its climb and eventually spreads out like a bird in flight to reveal this impassioned soaring majesty of a song at the final minute or so of its flight to glory. "Smiling At The Sun" alternates between the emotive restraint of the initial verses before taking off onto a sea of choruses and verses where the guitars open out and the keyboards provide a melodic counterpoint as the rhyrhm section drives it ever onwards and upwards as the vocal delivers yet another gem of a song. The title track opens with a swathe of warm sounding synthesizer as the drums clatter, the bass rumbles and the mid-range vocal conveys the song with grace. Then all of a sudden, the guitars soar in like birds of prey as they surround the song, and, instead of devouring it, lift it up and carry it off to an altogether finer place. The vocals soar alongside with epic majesty as the guitars spread out and solo while the synths swell and the whole thing lurches along with grace and bite, texture and power, all crashing into one glorious supernova of a guitar section before the massed vocals return for a final emotional verse and chorus that makes your heart skip a beat and forms a lump in your throat. Finally the guitars climb to the heavens and solo in quite spectacular fashion ebfore it all comes down to earth and lands. "I Woke Up One Day" starts with strummed guitars and that warm sounding vocal, slowly waking into a lyrically emotive reality as another excellent set of deeply personal lyrics instantly commands your attention. Slowly it all builds as the instrumentation enters, initially restrained drums, the vocal soaring higher, the pace still quite slow, until the sound of scorching mid-paced electric guitars underpinned by crunching drums and delicately thunderous bass provide the fuel for which the singer is spurred on to ever greater heights as the song takes off in all its glory and the guitars sizzle, the whole thing sounding positively epic, a word that describes practically the entirety of this album, as anothe expansive arrangement drives it all forward, only fall back to the slow-paced style for the final few seconds. "Home" starts with acoustic guitar and drums as the vocal steps up a notch in the strength department sounding more proclaiming than emotive as the song lifts off with electric guitar intensity and piano melody, the rhythm section swinging away as the vocals coalesce tyo form this widescreen passion and the song takes to the skies once more, this time a solitary electric guitar providing a steaming solo mid-song as it all hits ther spot absolutely and completely, the more swinging sea of commerciality fitting the band like a glove, the lyrics conveying the theme to perfection as the song strides out with guitars an keyobords reminding you strongly of the ex- Dundee band The Unknown. "Last Man On Earth" is built initially on that warm layer of synths as the vocal flows like a river , the drums providing the current on which the journey begins, the guitars entering to provide the wind that carries the song on its way to absolute command, your attention never wavering for one second as you behold a thing of beauty passing by. Keyboards provide waves which give the song that extra empetus as the whole thing billows out to become a truly wondrous sight to see - and hear. Six tracks in and it's already captured your heart and mind with no escape - and what you still have to come are 6 more tracks, all of equally emotive excellence, all delivering the same sesne of epic grace and passionate strength, on a debut album that will sound as good in ten years time as it does today, truly timeless and something of which you will never tire of playing.