a lot has been made of the 2 blokes behind this bands history.

having been on the britpop sidelines for many years, anthony genn (pulp, elastica) and martin slattery apparently caught a radiohead gig and decided there and then to form a band of their own.

somewhere along the line of this stretched out convoluted story, the 2 came into contact with damien hirst who has put his art where his mouth is and designed the cover and website in all its skull scraping detail.

not only that, but the classic 70s a&m imprint has been revised for the release of the album. someone has high hopes for this release thats for sure !

hopefully, after years of supposed bad luck, the hours are now getting their just rewards, and i for one am rather chuffed to see a happy ending.

a few listens to the album reveals quickly that its a direct relation to all things embrace, keane, et al. in other words we are talking about big pounding piano chords, epic strings and heartfelt emotions laid out for all to hear on daytime radio 2.

or, so it would seem on the surface, where things veer off into new territories is in the lyrics. when the phrase twinkle twinkle little star who the fuck do you think you are strikes out during the excellent title track, you begin to realise that the dark corners that the lads have lived in has tainted their world outlook as the lyrics are littered with all sorts of subtle digs and extras that make an old’un like me smile.the ruffed up vocals of i love you more with the declaration i love you more than my record collection being one such delicious moment.

despite my original desire to bin this album (its the constant keane thing .. a band i really dont enjoy) i can’t deny that the album is an easy, thoroughly enjoyable listen that has crept up on me in the last few weeks as the songs are melody rich, and sound great when you want some uplifting passion filled indie pop rock in your life.

simple as that.

 

more detail : here