| In the wake
of their Mercury Award disappointment what can you expect from
Athlete's debut album? Well it's guitar music Jim, but not as
we know it. Well actually that's not quite true. Its the sound
of a band clearly enjoying making music and not afraid to experiment,
but without being self indulgent. |
 |
| Recent singles
‘Westside’ and ‘You’ve Got The Style’
still sound as fresh and summery as ever and in fact improve with
repeated listens and a bit of volume. One Million ends in a kind
of drum and bass loop that sounds funky (although probably won't
give Goldie any sleepless nights) and 'New Project’s gorgeous
melody suddenly switches to a heads-down rocker for a minute in
the middle. It keeps you on your toes all the way through. Only
the lyrics let them down a little; ‘New Project' tell us
“There's a house at the end of the road got no windows and
its hard to see what is going on in there”. You don't say?
The regular guitar sound is beefed up with a lot of other almost
psychedelic sounds under the surface. I imagine its what the Coral
would sound like if they’d grown up listening to Pink Floyd
instead of the Beatles. |
To
sum up; in a year when a lot of guitar based albums have proved disappointing
(Stand up The Thrills) Athlete's debut album is fresh, warm and life
affirming. Just a pity about the crap name really - surely it should
have been The Athletes!
4
out of 5
Alex Pegg
