Well what's this?! Two new White Lies tracks from the yet-to-be-released debut "To Lose My Life" have landed in my (virtual) lap. This is yet another album I'm excited for next year (I think I'm just excited for next year in general), although it's getting a hell of a lot of hype through various DJs and the music media in general which could set the band up for a biiiiiiiig fall.
Half the album is already floating around the blogosphere, so there's a pretty good idea of what it sounds like already. Here comes the bad part. The two leaked tracks "Fairwell To The Fairground" and "The Price Of Love" aren't really anywhere near the brilliance of White Lies' earlier songs. Both songs are near to the end of the album so should be grandiose, epic statements whilst showing some development for the band, but they just come off a bit avaerage considering the talent they've shown on "Unfinished Business" and "Death".
The "new Joy Division" tag is totally unfounded though as it is with the other two bands burdened with the comparison; Editors and Interpol. Whereas JD where claustrophobic, angular and menacingly melancholy, these three modern bands have much grander ambitions with a widescreen edge to their sound, whilst keeping the gloomy feeling and deep-voiced singer.
Anyway back to my point. "FTTF" is the weaker of the two songs, something which should have been left as a B-side as best. It's two clean, polished, too Radio One really. A better chorus would improve it vastly. "TPOL" is slightly better, much more of the White Lies formula. A slow burner which evolves into a typical big, bold album closer with a dashing of Morricone-esque strings for added effect. It's good, but not as good as expected.
6/10 (Fairwell To The Fairground)
7/10 (The Price Of Love)
No comments:
Post a Comment