Music: Strength In Numbers
Friday, 13 Jun 2008 17:19
The Music find strength in numbers
Yes Please!/Polydor, out June 16th.
In a nutshell...
Charged, messianic, epic, occasionally explosive indie-rock - with knobs on.
What's it all about?
A 12-track (discounting bonus tracks available on special edition versions) long-player from a band who although consistently interesting, seem never to have had the success they deserve.
Blistering guitars meet stalking basslines and thunderous drums, and are accompanied by a voice that sounds like the illegitimate child of Robert Plant and Ian Astbury possessed by demons and held captive in a disused church.
Who's it by
The Music emerged in 2001 and were soon being touted as one of the best unsigned acts in Britain by the likes of the NME and BBC Radio 1's Steve Lamacq.
It wasn't long before a deal with Hut Records and an eponymous debut led to a number four spot in the UK album chart. Another album followed in 2004 and a slew of singles have kept The Music on the radar of the industry.
However, despite touring with US stadium-fillers Incubus and allegedly counting the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl among their fans, the band have never really fulfilled their full commercial potential.
As an example...
"I think it's time for you to look around/See your past is like broken glass," – Fire.
"Just a slave to the city/To indulge the pity/The opaque substitution/For a real revolution/Strength in numbers/No one will come between us," – Strength In Numbers.
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Since being touted as the next big thing, the Music have received continued praise by the critics. However, despite this it feels as if they have not yet won over the rest of us.
Consistently catchy and likeable, there is no reason why this shouldn't have happened already. Hopefully, when the masses have woken up to the Music, the silverware will follow.
What the others say
"The heart wants to praise this to high heaven, but the head says 'not quite there yet'. Let's make one thing clear though; given time the Music could and should finally realise the potential that's been fermenting inside them for years." - Simon Jay Catling, God Is In The TV
"For the band's third album [they] worked with producer Flood and Paul Hartnoll of Orbital fame... The [title] track just leaves me with the feeling that I have done and heard all this before." – John Siwicki, Comfort Comes
So is it any good?
The Music are a paradox. The band have great songs, are respected among critics and peers, and offer something a little different - so why are they still touring university venues when other acts who emerged around the same time are filling stadiums?
Perhaps it is their presumptuous name, perhaps it is their absence due to lead singer Robert Harvey's struggles with addiction, or perhaps even it is a their inability to be catagorised - but listening to their third album, it is clear that none of this really matters.
From the opening title track, Strength In Numbers stamps its presence like a hobnail boot and will you having playing air bass and pumping your fists with glee. Drugs and Get Through It recall late 90's era Primal Scream and Fire is reminiscent of the John Lydon/Leftfield classic Open Up.
There is no doubt that on occasion Strength In Numbers walks a predictable line, but its soaring vocals and diesel-powered guitars are enough to make it a welcome break from the faux-80s drivel currently being marketed as worthy of your hard-earned dough.
8/10
Noel Mellor
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