Royworld - 'Brakes'
Post categories: Reviews
| 10:11 UK time, Friday, 29 August 2008
Royworld are, according to some, the new Delays. I find this comparison deeply confusing, since 'Faded Seaside Glamour,' with its delicate arcs of sound and almost perfect reproduction of the noises of a crumbling postal town as pop music, is one of my favourite albums and whatever the Royworld album's called appears to sound more like Turin Brakes after they went off the rails.
In fact, this song sounds remarkably exactly like 'Summer Rain' by said band in several places. It also sounds a lot like nonspecific Snow Patrol, certain parts of Coldplay and in the first thirty seconds, distinctly like Crowded House. In other words if your dad doesn't like it, you probably need to check to see if he's been bodysnatched.
On the plus side, I suppose, this isn't another set of drab indie hipsters pretending to have a political statement to make re: not being bothered. It's quite heartfelt and sort of deeply inoffensive to a degree that doesn't quite pass over into the 'so mediocre it becomes incredibly annoying' arena.
On the downside, it's a blatant rewrite of 'Summer Rain' and has a slightly choppy-changey style to it that doesn't manage to pull it out of MOR territory but does manage to affect the air of it being many songs stuck together, like an advert for a compilation.
Specifically, it sounds quite overwhelmingly like a rather lovely album of "phat indie anthems" (sic) that I found in a bargain bin for a pound a few years ago. This CD has subsequently been hammered into the ground by me, over time and left me with a lasting affection for Lowgold that transcends sense.
This is the problem with these songs; I can sit here reviewing them and say they sound deeply average, which they do but someone probably heard it and took great comfort or inspiration from it.
Songs that are as obviously subjective as, err, "phat indie anthems" are impossible to review in any sort of populist manner except to give them a three-star rating and hope no one gets too offended. The bit of this one where he sings "put on your brakes, oh if I could just get through today" will either leave you totally underwhelmed or precisely sum up what you're feeling, even if you're feeling the exact same thing as the next person. The aesthetic decision is balanced on such a thin wire of taste between empathy and horror that I hardly feel I've got a right to throw my unaffected opinion about regarding this song.
So, objectively; this song sounds a lot like 'Summer Rain,' seriously. Subjectively; it's mediocre and emotionally bankrupt for me but maybe you thought 'Summer Rain' was when Turin Brakes got good, in which case you'll probably love this.
CD Released: September 1st
(Hazel Robinson)
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