Film Review

09 January 2009 12:40 BST

Athlete: Beyond the Neighbourhood

Parlophone, out September 3rd 2007.

In a nutshell…

Odd, absorbing, bold and beautiful

What's it all about?

Album opener In Between 2 States instantly implies that isn't quite the Athlete we've come to expect; electronic bleeps and burps echo The Postal Service and while we're not quite sure what's to come, hit single Hurricane brings a return to familiar ground, with its Snow Patrol on Prozac-esque momentum.

Tokyo's a wonderfully insistent third track, as hectic and jittery as its namesake, while Airport Disco manages to transform a concept suited to dodgy sci-fi (planes become nightclubs after flying is banned) into a notably suffocating four minutes, with the late 70s prog keyboard sound apt for its dystopian tone. It's Not Your Fault is an unexpected highpoint, its subtle opening of breakbeats and tenderly handled piano growing into a soaring opus, irresistibly fist-pumping and as joyous as their earlier classics Beautiful, You've Got The Style or Half Light.

After the world-weariness of The Outsiders, the utterly superb Flying Over Bus Stops emerges, a romantic, soft, ethereal effort, with beautiful harmonies resulting in what Kid A might have sounded like were Radiohead concerned with melody. Second Hand Stores sees Athlete joining the likes of The Killers and Arcade Fire in catching the let's-sound-like-U2 bug, but it's confident and accomplished enough to pretty much guarantee a lengthy top ten residence.

Unfortunately, despite their admirable sentiments, (inspired by the 9/11 documentary Falling Man and Spielberg's Munich, respectively) Best Not To Think About It and This Is What I Sound Like provide a sombre, plodding end to an otherwise intriguing album.

Who's it by?

Deptford indie kids Athlete return with this self-produced third album, two years since the double-platinum, Ivor Novello award-winning success of Tourist. While their debut Vehicles & Animals smacked of recent graduates fancying a crack at being a band, and Tourist was dominated by the swift advent of marriage, fatherhood and responsibility, this is a reflective, meditative piece, yet still maintaining the talent for a catchy singalong that they've always managed. Though the experimental idiosyncrasies that seemed to have deserted the band on their admittedly-anthemic sophomore effort have made a welcome return, it's a bold, assured effort, seemingly far less concerned with courting the masses than their 2005 triumph.

As an example…

"Let's pick a fight/on whoever we like/Cos we're never wrong/Nobody likes us/we don't care" – Pott discussing 'The English' on The Outsiders

"Let's fall in love again/Dive through windows and rescue our friends" – Sentiment abounds on Second Hand Stores

Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys

Some Brit nominations would certainly be warranted, as it's rare enough for a British band to actually bother to experiment (even though the album still remains comfortably within radio-friendly confines). But though they're all impressive, Hurricane and its likely follow-up singles, Second Hand Stores and It's Not Your Fault, aren't quite accessible enough to repeat the transatlantic success of label-mates Coldplay.

What the others say

"Athlete forge some of their most interesting and affecting songs yet… but too often return to the chugging sentimentality of past hits." – Sophie Harris, the Times.

"Athlete have moved on. They have created a fuller, richer, more experimental album, but kept hold of their distinctive sound too. It will grab you right from the start." – Helen Groom, BBC Music

So is it any good?

That depends on what you're looking for; the individualistic touches of the debut have returned in homemade electronic form, but much of the songwriting continues the journey towards MOR begun with Tourist. But for fans of that album's lighter-aloft stadium indie, it might be just too offbeat to fully tick all the boxes, with exuberant singalongs offset by skittish electro twiddling. Or maybe that's the album's greatest strength. Frontman Joel Pott's claimed the whole album is concerned with growing up, confusion between right and wrong and struggling to get to grips with changes beyond your control. With the album capably merging the weird and the wonderful, it's a far braver album than they could conceivably made after the success of Tourist, an album wholly suited to Radio 2 playlists. In all, Beyond the Neighbourhood is a surprising, lovingly-crafted record that will linger long in the memory.

8/10



Lewis Bazley

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