Circa Waves – Young Chasers (Album Review)

Circa Waves are a four-piece indie rock band from Liverpool. The band released their debut album called Young Chasers on the 30^th of March in 2015. Considering the quartet only formed in 2013, their fan-base has been rapidly expanding on the indie scene. I thought I’d give them a review considering they have been all over my Instagram feed recently, and I have never actually thought about giving them a listen before-hand.

'Get Away' – Introduces the whole album with a competitive strong start, getting you excited for what’s next to come. The track introduces itself with a strong guitar and drums, followed shortly by the vocals. The whole album appears very summery and is the sort of album that a big group of lads would listen to, with a crate of beers in the garden or on a field. This song is about someone with a very insecure partner and they want to do anything to make them happy for example the chorus states;

“I could get away if I wanted to, my hands are tied – tied to you, but I don’t mind no.”

In other words, they could leave and abandon their partner if they wanted to, but they don’t want to; due to having such a strong love for this person no matter what their insecurities.

'T-Shirt Weather' - Has a crescendo within the entrance of the song getting louder, with prompt vocals following the intense introduction. The track is ever so contagious due to the repetitive chorus;

“I remember T-shirt weather; I remember some days we were singing our lungs out in the backseat together.”

The contagiousness comes from the cleverly structured rhyming within the chorus, which is presumably why it is their most notorious and well-known song.

'Deserve This' –This song sounds a bit softer than their previous material as it does not enter with sharp drums and guitar, shortly followed by vocals; their usual structure. This song could have two meanings; one whereby he’s referring to the fact that he does not deserve all of the good things that have happened to him as he is reminiscing the good times. However it could also mean he does not deserve her leaving him?

“I haven’t seen her then, but I’ll only love her to chase a dream; I miss you.”

'Young Chasers' – Starts with an energetic guitar and drum introduction with an upbeat tone of voice, Kieran Shudall on main vocals has a very easy-going rhythmic voice. You can almost imagine fans jumping up, down and sideways to their energetic and fun-filled song.

'Good For Me' – Shudall sounds so much like Julian Casablancas in this track and the song sounds heavily influenced by The Strokes. I think this is due to how there is only a few strings played on the guitar at first, and then it goes into a very heavy and fast beat, it escalates very quickly – a lot like The Strokes’ work. This track sounds like he’s just trying to tell someone he cares about them as it is basically inevitable that he will be a bad influence on them, as he says how he’s a bad influence on himself –

“You’ll see, yeah you’ll see that I’m just no good for me”

'Stuck in my Teeth' – This song sounds very heavily influenced by The Kooks right from the instrumental, straight through to the lyrics and vocals.  The song is ever so catchy due to its repetitiveness on the main line;

“I’m a little too young with not enough time.”

I suppose considering the fan base would be teenagers to young adults, Circa Waves are very relate-able and perhaps that’s why their fan base has increased so rapidly?

In conclusion I really like Circa Waves, and I can understand why their fan base may have expanded so rapidly. However, for me personally this album was not enough. There was not enough variety throughout the album as most of the songs sound very similar and I like albums whereby they have a song which is a complete paradox from the rest of the album. The closest to a paradox that the album has would be ‘Deserve this’ so on that behalf I was rather disappointed. I think Circa Waves sound heavily influenced by The Kooks and The Strokes which is never a bad thing as I love them both; how can you not?! However, if anyone begs to differ; please don’t be afraid to share your opinion with me! I’d love to know if there was more depth to the album than love, girls and sun?

P.S - I apologise for not posting over the past fortnight I've been ever so busy with revision.

7/10

Jamie T - Carry on the Grudge (Album Review)

‘Carry On The Grudge’ is Jamie Treay’s third album, the street poet from London mysteriously stopped creating music for five years, until his new album ‘Carry On The Grudge’ was released.  I personally prefer his older stuff, however I do find this album a massive paradox from his previous work, and I like the contrast that Jamie has provided by releasing this album… The album was released on 29^th of September in 2014, so as you can imagine after 5 years of no work being produced, fans were obviously thrilled to see that the Londoner has made a re-appearance with a brand new album! Within this album Jamie becomes the character’s that he once talked about in his previous albums which leads to the reason as to why this album is such a gigantic paradox to his previous work.

The second track on the album is called “Don’t You Find” and this single was released on the 21^st of July, before the album was released and it is one of my favorite songs off the album. I think that it was a great song to tease the fans with before the full album was released. The single introduces itself straight away with the vocals saying:  

 “Don’t you find some of the time there is always someone on your mind, that shouldn't be at all in any place or any kind?”  

This attracts your attention straight away, as this line is simply very relateable.  The reason as to why this single is one of my favorites off the album is because within this song; the instrumental is much softer and quieter compared to Treay’s voice - in order to allow you to focus on the lyrics.

This song is one of the most well-known songs off the album alongside “Zombie” due to the lyrics being very repetitive. The echo’s and backing vocals reflect the sadness of the song and create a rather gloomy atmosphere. This album portrays a very dark atmosphere from start to finish; compared to Kings`n’Queens as that album is rather rebellious as Treay loudly voices his opinion and comes across as a bit of a gob-shite, but I like the contrast between his previous work in Kings`n’Queens and Panic Prevention to Carry on the Grudge as it shows how much of a versatile artist that Treay can be.

`Zombie’ has claimed to be the most popular Jamie T song on the album and perhaps the most notorious and successful out of all of Treay’s songs? The single was released after “Don’t you find” on the 12^th of August 2014 it starts off slowly similarly to his previous tracks, then the notorious Jamie T beat hits when the chorus kicks in; with strong guitar and attitude that Treay shows throughout all of his previous work.

 “Cause I’m a sad sad post-teen could have been a love machine. No dream, come clean walking like a zombie, like a zombie.”

Then before the last verse, the single is then followed by a horror theme tune - then on the last verse you hear Treay’s lovely contagious singing voice again, followed by the catchy chorus line of:

“Walking like a zombie, like a zombie.”

‘The Prophet (explicit)’  – This is a song which allows you to really get into Jamie’s head as he views all his prospective of poverty in this song.  Again followed by a catchy chorus:

“I don’t ask the questions, I don’t write the rules. I’m up for suggestions, I will follow you through; it can’t be any worse than I've been up to.”

My favorite line of the song is:

 “I don’t know what it is but you do it to me, I haven’t cracked a smile since ‘93”

This is because it has endless questions as to why he has written this line, and it follows with endless answers.

However the main song that I dislike on this album is called 'Peter' I have presumed that Peter is Treay’s evil alter-ego and the song comes across rather psychopathic and almost schizophrenic.  

The schizophrenic opinion comes from the way Treay opens the song with;

 “Sometimes I feel like there’s someone in my head”

That then goes on to be followed by;

 “Sometimes I feel that he wants me dead.”

Then the chorus consists of;

“Peter doesn’t like my friends. Peter doesn’t like your band; Peter says you all sound bland. Peter wants to fuck your girl; Peter wants to fuck the world.”

I didn't realise that Treay had such dark thoughts and as a fan of his work I must say that this piece is way too dark for my liking, and I really dislike this track.

'Love Is Only A Heartbeat Away' is another personal favorite of mine, it enters with a gentle and soft introduction and continues with a melancholic atmosphere from beginning to end for the rest of the song.  Like many of Jamie T’s songs it is shamefully contagious due to its repetitiveness.

 “And he sang love is only a heartbeat away, better save it for the darkest of your days”

Then on the second chorus it changes gender;

“And she sang love is only a heartbeat away, better save it for the darkest of your days”

In conclusion; I think that the whole album is full of very dark songs compared to all of his previous work, but it allows you to understand the other side of the story.  On the contrary, I really do like this album as you get to see the softer more emotional side of Treay’s work and every song has been cleverly structured in so much detail, and even the album has been cleverly structured in order to create that contrast that Treay was obviously looking for.  As he put love is only a heartbeat away after Peter on the album; one of the softest songs on the album, next to one of the darkest songs on the entire album. Considering how aesthetically pleasing I find Jamie T and how big of a fan I am of him and his previous work, I’m not the biggest fan of this album mainly due to Peter letting it down from my own personal prospective.

9/10

The Brookes

The Brookes are a new and upcoming alternative rock band from Grimsby, UK. The four-piece are already deemed as successful due to many of their gigs being completely sold out! 

Their first track ‘Lucy’ introduces the song with Elliott Gant on bass, Jamie Craw on lead guitar and Bryn Cattell on drums with a grunge/garage style beat to open the song, followed by the frontman Ben Keal with the first line of -

“I met Lucy in the sky, she sends shivers all down my spine” 

with his Alex Turner/ Miles Kane influenced voice. Keal makes the song sound effortless whilst making it simultaneously sound so stupendous.

 Every single member of The Brookes are very talented with Cattell remaining very strong on the drums from start to finish, the same goes for the bassist and guitarist, because even though the song gradually builds up throughout; the performance never mellows – there is a constant effort from the beginning right through to the end of the piece. I would definitely recommend that you give this track a listen, this is the link to their soundcloud.

https://soundcloud.com/brookeslucy2015/lucy/s-oiyF7

'Lucy' is also now available to buy on iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/lucy-single/id975721843

The B-Side to ‘Lucy’ is called ‘Shape of You’ which enters with a very rock’n’roll introduction, followed by the vocals. The vocals in this performance sound a lot deeper and grunge compared to the alternative and indie vocals in ‘Lucy’, but the contrast works well.  This track has an infectious tune which makes a strong and solid formatted beat for the B-side. The guitar and drums both have a lot of time aside from the vocals, which heavily compliments the piece. The chorus is very catchy as it appears throughout the piece many of times –

 “I fell in love with ignorance, in the shape of you. All your lies they make no sense; I fell in love with ignorance, in the shape of you.” 

However the B-Side remains heavily influenced by Peace; so if you enjoy listening to Peace I highly recommend that you give this piece a listen! 

https://soundcloud.com/brookeslucy2015/shape-of-you/s-qrpWC

The Brookes have two amazingly structured tracks, they have both been very well thought-out and I would definitely recommend that you give them a listen if you haven’t already. 

The bassist, guitarist, drummer and lead singer all have incredible talents and all of their talents complement each-other to a measure beyond believable. I look forward to listening to your next track lads! Keep up the good expectations.