The Rushes: Corners EP
The Rushes don't cut corners with their new EP
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Friday, 28, Mar 2008 05:01
Island, out March 31st.
In a nutshell.
A promising sample of soft/indie-rock
What's it all about?
This is the Rushes taster of what is to comes: snappy keyboard/guitar driven tracks iced with the tense vocals of Gerard O'Connell that ring very much like those of Ryan Adams. There's a strong resonance of Editors but with more of the Rakes style of spikey, dancey indie.
The band themselves described these as "songs about feeling.but not wet" and there's a definite taste of melancholy to the tracks here such as references to leaving for the gates of hell.
Who's it by
Meeting at a university football match in Leeds the Rushes are built around the friendship of Gerard and Dan Armstrong with the rhythm section of James O'Connell and Joe Allen adding the bass and beat to their sound.
Although this is only an EP the band have been busy over the past year amassing tracks for their debut LP which has been produced by Victor Van Vugt (PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, and Athlete among others).
As an example.
"You showed me your dark side reflecting the moon/if we keep it all in the shadows they'll be nothing to lose now" - Will You Won't You?
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Not yet but if these type of songs are repeated over the forthcoming LP then there's every chance of nod at one or two of the award shows. The Rushes are moving towards the niche of indie-rock that's accepted, embraced even, by the mainstream.
What the others say
"Their songs are surging and melodic, anthemic and infectious, designed to be played to huge audiences.brainy prog-pop" - The Guardian
"Anthemic rock contenders" - Coventry Telegraph
So is it any good?
The problem with EPs is they're long enough to impress but not long enough to prove that a band has any great depth to them. However, with that accepted the five tracks here do all succeed on their own separate fronts.
Envelopes title track is the most obvious single, a sparking, melodic stomper with wonder vocal harmonies. But there's also plenty of good and varied material here to back things up.
Ripping It Down in particular balances on the brink of blatant soft-rock but not too much to make things boring and there's enough of an edge to the song-writing to make each of the five tunes a good listen.
In conclusion we'll still have to wait and see before deciding whether The Rushes will leave any great long-term impressio - so many bands can promise the world before falling apart over a full-length album - but so far it's definitely thumbs up.
7/10
Mat Strowbridge