Good Shoes: No Hope, No Future
Good Shoes: No Hope, No Future
Friday, 22, Jan 2010 05:37
Brille, out January 25th.
What's it all about?
No Hope, No Future is album number two from south-west London based four-piece Good Shoes and follows their 2007 debut Think Before You Speak which reached number 55 in the UK charts when it was released.
Who's it by?
Originally formed in late 2004 the band was based around the school friend pairing of lead singer Rhys Jones and guitarist Steve Leach who soon recruited a fellow school friend (Joel Cox - bass guitar) and family member (Tom Jones - drums) to complete the line-up.
The band toured and recorded in this formation until bassist Cox exited before recording of the new album and was replaced by another local music scene friend, but the current line up includes Will Church on bass.
As an example...
"And move on, and move on, and move on, and move on/To someone else/But it's always the same problem, in the end/And go on, and go on, and go on, and go on/To your next conquest/But we've all made the same mistakes." -The Way My Heart Beats
What the others say
"Even with the best will in the world we can't say that Good Shoes have put their best foot forward. We don't want to say that title's prophetic, but... " Kelly Murray, NME.com
"Previously they were a band easy to ignore and not take notice but this latest effort is pushing to the front of the line to be noticed." - Chris Ebbs, Virgin.com
So is it any good?
Back in 2007 Good Shoes were flying the flag for bored inner-city teens everywhere and were doing with a collection of scratchy, jerking tunes that despite their lo-fi production had a unique charm to them.
Think Before You Speak captured the youthful desire to escape and experience life but No Hope No Future seems to be lacking that naïve, twitching energy that made the band so interesting when they first appeared.
The Way My Heart Beats makes a promising start and bops along with the same fidgety force that once made them dance floor favourites, but it is followed by the gloomy, repetitive Everything You Do that all but kills the first track's buzz.
First single Under Control is pretty much indie-disco by the book and again has attractive traits but is a little lacking in lyrical depth to make any real impact.
Then things take a rather odd turn with the triumphantly prog-like Our Loving Mother In a Pink Diamond which lollops along for several minutes with singer Rhys Jones recounting tales of childhood trips to the sea. Sadly, the track sounds half-baked at best and probably should have been nurtured in the practice room for a while longer.
A lack of substance permeates the record and we never seem to get beyond the ubiquitous, jerky guitar lines and slightly banal broken-hearted lyrics.
Closing track City by the Sea is a tender ballad at odds with the rest of record and perhaps the most promising track on here.
All in all, this is a fairly uninspiring album that in its attempts to be experimental ends up retracing steps or simply taking wrong turns. The few moments of enjoyment are pleasing but are too thinly spread to make this anything more than an average album.
5/10
Ross McTaggart